Welcome to another season of our Vancouver Whitecaps contest “Guess the Starting XI and Final Score”. As is tradition, thanks to former regular Spencer for starting this several years ago. It has grown into a great contest and I am appreciative of him for the original idea. Like last season, we will break the contest up into the three ‘seasons’: first half, second half, and non-MLS. We will continue to have fun monthly ‘bonus’ prediction categories, with some being based on whatever it topical at the time. Last season we had things like “Robbo post-match quotes”, “yellow cards”, “first goal scorer”, and several others. However, to start the season, we will keep March simple. With that out of the way, let’s remind you all how the scoring is done.
Contest Details
- Contest article will be posted 2-3 days prior to game day.
- We will keep track of first half, second half, and monthly winners so that late joiners will have something to play for.
- I will have a separate ‘contest’ for Voyageurs and Champions League.
- As the MLS season is 34 matches, each half of the season will be based on 17 matches, with your worst two match predictions being dropped. This will allow everyone a few misses or bad guesses throughout the season.
- Predictions will be ‘valid’ if posted HERE 1.5 hours prior to kickoff (or half an hour prior to the lineup being officially announced).
How Scoring is Determined
- You receive 1 point for every player you correctly guess to be in the Starting XI. Receive 1 bonus point for correctly predicting 10 starters. Receive 3 bonus points for correctly predicting 11 starters.
- You get 5 points for correctly guessing Win/Lose/Draw.
- You receive 1 point for correctly guessing each team’s final score. Receive 1 bonus point for correctly guessing both teams final score (for a total of 3).
That means, if you correctly predict the Starting XI, Final Score, and Winner, you can earn 22 points!
After each match, I will tally the scores and update the standings, which will be posted with the following match’s prediction article. I will post three sets of standings. First, the results from the previous match. Second, the monthly standings. Third, the first/second half standings (with your worst two match predictions removed).
Scores for Match #1 & #2 vs Montreal
| Ranking | User | Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | User | Score | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score | Interval |
| 1 | rtomsheck | 27 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Jstebeck | 23 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Westsider13 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Arjon | 21 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | MarcoD77 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | The Squirrel | 19 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | edmondk | 17 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | chuckbiscuits | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | GreyHouseEffect | 16 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | BlackPanther99 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | CascadiaCrunchFC | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | olikchivas | 14 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | AtlantisB | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Isabelt | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Island Life | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Match Review (Montreal Impact) and Preview (Toronto FC)
Scores were NOT kind last match!! Few of us were optimistic that the Vancouver Whitecaps would pull out a victory against Montreal, while even fewer believed that Carl Robinson would field a strong squad. In fact, the average lineup score in the last match was just under 4 (four)! You read that correctly, in a match that required three Canadians to start, and you really only had about four to choose between, the best the average of us could muster was four out of eleven. Despite that, rtomsheck SOMEHOW predicted 10/11. Amazing, and congrats. If we take out rtomsheck’s prediction, our combined average drops down to 3.5/11 correct. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.
Because of that sensational lineup prediction, and correctly predicting a Whitecaps victory, rtomsheck is leading the Non-MLS Standings, by four over JStebeck, half-way through the matches. Can they sustain that lead, or will one of the trailers overtake them? There are plenty of people close in the running, so it is anyone’s guess.
On Wednesday night, the Whitecaps will host Toronto FC in the first leg of the Voyageurs Cup final. This is an important match for determining whether the Caps can win or not, with the second leg being in Toronto. It is no surprise then that Robbo elected to rest some of his players this past weekend, leaving them back in Vancouver; and also because they were injured. Depending on the severity of the injuries, I expect many who did not start or travel over the weekend to play in this one. That means Kamara, Reyna, Davies, Techera, etc.
Two players that should be well-rested are Waston and Juarez, who were both suspended for last Saturday’s match. Expect both to suit up for this one.
The biggest question for this one will be whether the often feeble Whitecaps attack can muster up some goals, and whether the porous defense can keep a clean sheet. It will be tough to do, given that Toronto are just getting healthy, after their own injury bouts; but Toronto may try to sit back a bit and force Vancouver to play with the ball (yikes!) and look to get out of Vancouver with it being 0-0 or 1-0 Whitecaps.
Don’t forget that it is August and we have a new contest: Predict who, among the Whitecaps, will be the first recipient of a card (we will include red cards in this). If you get it correct, you get a bonus three points! You can also predict that NO ONE will get a yellow card in the match, which can earn you three points.
Good luck with your predictions.
UPDATE
Of note, Juarez is not eligible to play in the #canChamp for the duration of his @MLS suspension. So he can't play tomorrow, but would be eligible for the second leg. #VWFC https://t.co/drqo8HPyuC
— Farhan Devji (@farhandevji) August 8, 2018
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