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).

Match Results (Calvary FC) Rank User Total (Monthly) Lineup Bonus Winner Score Goal Rank User Total (Monthly) Lineup Bonus Winner Score Goal 1 AmandaC 13 8 0 5 0 0 2 CascadiaCrunchFC 12 7 0 5 0 0 3 chuckbiscuits 10 9 0 0 1 0 3 rtomsheck 10 9 0 0 1 0 5 J Stebeck 9 8 0 0 1 0 5 Westsider13 9 9 0 0 0 0 7 edmondk 8 8 0 0 0 0 7 The Squirrel 8 8 0 0 0 0 7 jvenn 8 8 0 0 0 0 7 ZTJ9901 8 7 0 0 1 0 11 AshMan77 7 7 0 0 0 0 11 Tres_Tristes_Tigres 7 6 0 0 1 0 11 AtlantisB 7 6 0 0 1 0 14 tecate 6 5 0 0 1 0 14 CDPrior 6 6 0 0 0 0 14 Colombian_Southsider77 6 6 0 0 0 0 14 Isabelt 6 6 0 0 0 0 14 hbamaral 6 5 0 0 1 0 19 GreyHouseEffect 5 5 0 0 0 0

Match Results (San Jose Earthquakes) Rank User Total (Monthly) Lineup Bonus Winner Score Goal Rank User Total (Monthly) Lineup Bonus Winner Score Goal 1 chuckbiscuits 19 10 1 5 3 0 2 edmondk 17 10 1 5 1 0 2 Westsider13 17 9 0 5 3 0 2 GreyHouseEffect 17 10 1 5 1 0 5 CascadiaCrunchFC 15 9 0 5 1 0 5 Isabelt 15 9 0 5 1 0 5 AmandaC 15 9 0 5 1 0 5 Island Life 15 9 0 5 1 0 9 CDPrior 14 10 1 0 0 3 9 Colombian_Southsider77 14 11 3 0 0 0 11 Stick of butter 13 8 0 5 0 0 12 AshMan77 12 9 0 0 0 3 12 rtomsheck 12 10 1 0 1 0 12 tecate 12 9 0 0 0 3 12 ZTJ9901 12 10 1 0 1 0 16 Trest_Tristes_Tigres 9 9 0 0 0 0 16 AtlantisB 9 9 0 0 0 0 16 hbamaral 9 9 0 0 0 0 19 Airos 8 3 0 5 0 0

July Standings Rank User Total LAFC Calgary SKC NER SJE Rank User Total LAFC Calgary SKC NER SJE 1 Westsider13 70 16 9 14 14 17 2 GreyHouseEffect 65 13 5 15 15 17 3 edmondk 64 13 8 11 15 17 4 chuckbiscuits 63 14 10 8 12 19 5 CascadiaCrunchFC 61 11 12 7 16 15 6 AmandaC 59 14 13 6 11 15 7 Isabelt 55 14 6 7 13 15 8 tecate 53 8 6 14 13 12 8 ZTJ9901 53 9 8 8 16 12 10 Colombian_Southsider77 51 9 6 7 15 14 11 Island Life 48 14 0 7 12 15 11 rtomsheck 48 9 10 11 6 12 13 Trest_Tristes_Tigres 46 13 7 7 10 9 14 AshMan77 45 6 7 8 12 12 15 AtlantisB 44 14 7 8 6 9 16 CDPrior 43 8 6 7 8 14 17 hbamaral 41 14 6 7 5 9 18 CapsOnTheDrive 32 13 0 7 12 0 19 Airos 29 14 0 7 0 8 20 J Stebeck 27 11 9 7 0 0 21 The Squirrel 21 0 8 13 0 0 22 jvenn 16 8 8 0 0 0 23 Jitsuo 14 14 0 0 0 0

Match Review and Preview (AtlantisB and Tres_Tristes_Tigres)

Previously, I had kept the commentary, and updates, on the MLS and Non-MLS matches separately. However, with the gap between matches, I feel that it might get confusing with reviewing matches according to league...hmm, maybe it is as confusing as that sentence. As a result, I will just keep this to the previous match and then the upcoming match. That will keep it simple and independent of the competition. As a result, I have included the first Calvary FC match as well as the San Jose match this past weekend.

Sound the alarm!!!! We have a lineup bonus! There had only been one lineup bonus in the previous five matches (including non-MLS), but it looks like some line-up predictability has finally returned. We had seven lineup bonuses this week, including one perfect lineup courtesy of Colombian_Southsider77. It was just the second perfect lineup since the second half of the season began.

Tres doesn’t have much else to say as they went for a day hike instead (smart decision). Apparently hiking is a less emotionally traumatizing way to spend your Saturday!

Some of us remained too optimistic for the Whitecaps (me) and plummeted to the bottom of the standings. However, those of us who were properly pessimistic flourished. chuckbiscuits led the way with 19 points, while tecate, AshMan77, and CDPrior were the only ones to correctly predict a goal in the first 15 minutes. Congrats!

I have updated the July standings, as we are closing in on the end of the month! Westsider13 has a nice lead with 70, followed by GreyHouseEffect at 65, Edmond at 64, chuck biscuits at 63, and CascadiaCrunchFC at 61 rounding out the top five. With it so tight at the top we should have a good race to the finish. If one of them correctly predicts the Calgary match, while the others are wrong, it could mean a jump to the top of the standings.

Hopefully Vancouver can pull out the win against Cavalry FC or this contest will quickly be dead! Good luck (to you and the Caps)