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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 half-an-hour prior to the lineup being officially announced (1 hour before kickoff).
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).
Previous Match Rankings
| Rank | User | Total | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | User | Total | Lineup | Bonus | Winner | Score |
| 1 | CDPrior | 19 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 1 | hbamaral | 19 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | tecate | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | GreyHouseEffect | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | ZTJ9901 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | The Squirrel | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Tres_Tristes_Tigres | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | edmondk | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Jitsuo | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | jvenn | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | CascadiaCrunch | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | rtomsheck | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Isabelt | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | AtlantisB | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Island Life | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | AmandaC | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | AshMan77 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | chuckbiscuits | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Airos | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Westsider13 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | CapsOnTheDrive | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Slowkid | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Recap
Ugh! When will the Vancouver Whitecaps STOP giving up penalty kicks! That is SEVEN! in twelve matches. Not good, not good. What WAS good were your predictions. We had 22 predictions and 21 of you received a lineup bonus. Not bad for a double game week.
GreyHouseEffect led everyone with 21 points. They correctly predicted an Atlanta victory (boo!) and received two points for the substitute. Following GreyHouseEffect was Fudmur (19) and tecate/Westsider13 (17).
We have a quick turnaround, so I am going to keep this short. A full standings update will come after the weekend match.
A Few Responses to Comments
There we go. Tres_Tristes_Tigres answered CapsOnTheDrive’s question. Unfortunately, CapsOnTheDrive may not have seen it, as they did not put in a prediction.
Looking Ahead
The Whitecaps leave Vancouver Thursday morning, for a one-stop flight to Kansas City. It will be around six hours, plus time at the airport, so expect a bit of tired legs. Mind you, I am not sure it can be any worse than what we saw on Wednesday evening. YIKES! Expect to see some rotation. The quesiton is, who will be rotated? It is unlikely that the defence will see much change, but maybe we see Cornelius? Sutter? The more likely changes are up-front, but there isn’t much depth on the bench right now to spell the starters. This could be a bad one or it could end up being great. Who knows!
Remember, the bonus prediction this month is first substitute. Two points for correctly predicting first player coming out, two for first coming in, bonus one point for getting both correct. Sigh, predicting whether there would be a PK called would probably be a good choice right now. Oh well.
As always, make sure to check out our pre-match coverage Know the Enemy and Pre-Match