Guess the Starting XI & Final Score 2019 (MLS Match #30 - New York City FC

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 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).

Match Review and Preview (Tres_Tristes_Tigres & AtlantisB)

As is usually the case with mid-week games, prediction scores dipped slightly due to squad rotation. No lineup bonuses to hand out for the Montreal game. Half of us predicted the loss, however, often making up for points lost due to lineup uncertainty. Even more, a quarter of us predicted the loss as well as the final score!

Congrats to AmandaC for the lone correct card prediction. Remarkably, the Caps have gone three of five games this month without a single card! For some added context of how notable that is, through 31 games in all competitions this year the opponent has received a card in all but two matches (March 30th and June 29th, both times against Seattle). Whether that’s a sign of exceptional team discipline or lack of desire is debatable. With one game left in August, will the Caps continue their tame streak?

Speaking of August, Isabelt has a five-point lead over AshMan77, edmondk, and GreyHouseEffect heading into the final match of the month. Can Isabelt be caught? The benefits of three players being within five points is that it makes it more challenging for Isabelt as they cannot simply make the same/similar lineup/score prediction as their closest rival, as there could be too many combinations. This is compounded by the three matches in one week. Should be a great finish!

Isabelt also has to consider the Second Half standings. They have moved one point ahead of Westsider13, so they might be looking at the bigger picture prediction and not worry too much about the August race. We will see. People are well spread out in the standings, but that also means that we have the opportunity for some movement from people. I am excited to see how the final five matches go.

I don’t have a bonus category picked for September, so if you have some ideas please post them, and read each other’s, and we will see if any gain more interest from the combatants!

Good luck everyone!