Cairokyo Legends (Part 7) - Printable Version +- Simulation Soccer League (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com) +-- Forum: Player Development (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5) +--- Forum: Capped Point Tasks (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=23) +---- Forum: Articles (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=46) +---- Thread: Cairokyo Legends (Part 7) (/showthread.php?tid=9565)

Cairokyo Legends (Part 7) - rrf_1 - 2026-05-20 The Cairokyo Legends This series explores the 15 players that have played more than 10 seasons with the Tokyo-Cairo organization. Tokyo S.C. drafted a lot of star talent in the first three SSL drafts, but just as every team knows, they needed to continue investing in their future to ensure seamless transfer of leadership between eras.  This group of three legends in Shinji Kaido, Dobby Roobe, and Caleb Hayden drafted in S5 and S6 form what I'm calling "The Second Wave" for the team – a set of players that grew into valuable contributors for Cairokyo in the early to mid teens. Shinji Kaido Sendai, Japan – 6'1" 165lbs Tokyo career: 206 apps, 15 POM (7.3%), 7.19 avg rating Team of the season: 4x major Like so many other professional footballers, Shinji Kaido grew up fully immersed in the sport.  He and his 2 older siblings Aiko and Yui all played in youth leagues as soon as they were old enough, and they all outmatched the skills of their peers.  Even before turning 10, Shinji could effortless weave the ball forward and give himself open shooting lines.  With more practice, Shinji also learned how to collaborate as part of an offensive unit, supplementing his individual scoring talent with exceptionally precise passing skills.  Already by his second year of high school, he was invited to try out with the Vegalta Sendai of the professional J League in Japan, although their interest turned out to be a bit premature, since Shinji couldn’t yet match the physical or mental quickness of the pros.  But this experience made one thing clear for him: he wanted to play professional football more than anything else. In the S5 draft, Tokyo S.C. selected Shinji with the 14th overall pick.  He was thrilled he could stay in Japan, but he was also nervous that he wouldn’t meet the high expectations of the Tokyo fans and his new teammates.  After all, Tokyo was coming into S5 after winning the league title in S4, so there were high hopes that their success could be repeated.  In his first season, Shinji faded into the background against the immense skill around the league.  He wasn’t yet up to the level where he could be a high contributing member of such a powerful team.  However, he never questioned his potential to grow into that responsibility, and he practiced with dedication each season of his career.  Looking back on his time with the team, Shinji told me that “Tokyo is the reason I became the player I did.  They were patient with my development, and always supported me along the way.” Shinji’s best season wasn’t until his 8th with the team, but the patience paid off.  In 14 matches of S12, he scored 9 goals.  He landed a very efficient 63.8% of his shots on target and scored on 15.6% of his shots.  The following S13, Shinji also connected a career high 12 assists in 14 matches, showing off his ability to both finish and create offense.  In S13 he also contributed 4.1 key passes/90, 4.1 dribbles/90, and 3.4 crosses/90 at 43.2% connection rate, which were all career high marks.  In 15 straight major league seasons with Tokyo, Shinji finished with 60 goals and 65 assists.  He averaged 0.3 goals/90 with 11.3% scoring and 50.7% on-target efficiencies.  He also recorded 0.3 assists/90, 2.6 key passes/90, 2.8 dribbles/90, and 1.4 crosses/90 over his career in addition to connecting on an average of 81.1% of his passes. Other than the gradual growth in scoring effectiveness, one of the moat notable areas of improvement for Shinji was in the defensive side of his game.  With the guidance of teammate Helena Söderberg, he acclimated to some of the nuances of ball control, transition play, and isolation defense – all with the goal of expanding his lineup versatility so Tokyo could play Shinji in the midfield if necessary while still leaning on his offensive skills.  His career defensive numbers were never substantial (2.5 interceptions/90, 2.0 tackles/90, 78.3% tackling win rate), but they were commendable for what the team needed from him. His SSL career is now in the rearview, but Shinji is not retired from the sport entirely.  After a short stint with CD Tenochtitlan in his final seasons, he returned to Japan to join the coaching staff of the Vegalta Sendai, the same team where his professional dreams began.  In my interview with him, Shinji really credited building community as a critical part of professional sports, and I think his return to Vegalta embodies his loyalty to the people who helped him succeed.  Returning to Japan also helped Shinji continue his long-standing partnership with Nintendo, which started when he helped create their Mario Ultimate Strikers game as a motion capture actor, since the studio wanted to make sure the ball handling and shooting movements looked realistic in a playable character modeled after Shinji himself.  He even had the chance to record some high-flying harness-assisted acrobatics for what the studio calls the “Hyper Strike”, Shinji making sure to add his own personal flair.  It seems he lived up to his parting words to me: “Always make it a priority to enjoy your time in the league.” Dobby Roobe Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – 5'9" 350 lbs Tokyo career: 146 apps, 1 POM (0.7%), 6.97 avg rating Cairo career: 28 apps, 1 POM (3.6%), 6.93 avg rating Dobby Roobe put it simply in his application for the SSL S5 draft: “I like to play football.”  But his relationship with the game actually went much deeper than that.  Growing up in the vast remote wilderness of Mongolia, he used football as his primary escape from the harsh winters and social isolation he experienced.  Dobby practiced tirelessly partially because he liked the sport, but more so because being great at football was his path to a better life.  Eventually his hard work did pay off when he received a scholarship to play football at Clemson University, but moving to the United States was just the start of his journey to the pros. Dobby struggled with the culture shock at first, moving so far from home with no familiar faces to lean on.  These emotional challenges were aggravated even further by the team’s poor record in his first season, which made Dobby question whether the program he joined was even capable of being competitive.  Still, he pushed through 2 more seasons of struggles and failures, the team slowly improving with each setback.  Clemson finally won the coveted national championship in his final year in large part to Dobby’s leadership and tenacity, and he declared for the SSL draft to take his game to the next level. Using the 21st overall pick in the S5 draft, Tokyo S.C. selected the ascendant attacking midfielder to join the squad alongside Shinji Kaido.  Shinji of course had a bit more hype surrounding his name heading into their rookie season, but Dobby was the one to make a bigger impact for the team at the start.  He won the league’s rookie of the year award with 3 goals and 3 assists in 14 matches.  However, the Tokyo managers struggled with how to accommodate both attackers on the team in the long term.  Dobby and Shinji had a pretty similar approach to the game, but Tokyo really only had room for one more player of their skillset.  Without the space to fairly develop both players, Tokyo loaned Dobby to Sydney City for his second season so both Dobby and Shinji had the chance to prove their potential before the team made decisions about their future.  Shinji edged out Dobby 3 goals to 1 in S6, so after Dobby returned from loan, the team decided to try his fit at other positions. The best match for Dobby ended up being in the goal, a position he never played before but one that came naturally to him.  It helped that he had a suitable build for blocking the net and plenty of experience on the attacking side.  After trialing the position in S7, Dobby switched permanently in S8.  As goalkeeper, he appeared in 132 major league matches in his career and recorded a total of 42 clean sheets, which stands 5th on the all-time SSL leaderboard.  He conceded 204 goals (only 1.5 goals/90) and saved 70.7% of shots on goal.  Given his unconventional position swap, Tokyo was thrilled with the contributions Dobby made over his tenure. Off the field, Dobby was best known for three things.  First, he was always listening to music and sharing playlists with his teammates.  He also consumed fresh fruit plentifully, especially on game days, his favorites being watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and grapes.  And lastly he was a strong advocate for all forms of physical treatment no matter how bizarre, including cryotherapy, therapeutic ultrasound, and electrical stimulation along with more typical cardio, core, stretching, compression, and strength trainings.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to contact Dobby to learn more about his post-retirement life, but I imagine he found a permanent home in Tokyo to continue a fulfilling life of wellness. Caleb Hayden Londonderry, NH, USA – 6'0" 145 lbs Tokyo career: 66 apps, 3 POM (4.5%), 7.62 avg rating Cairo career: 83 apps, 7 POM (8.4%), 7.20 avg rating Caleb Hayden was a multi-sport athlete his whole youth.  He mainly focused on hockey and American football, the most popular sports in New Hampshire, although he played soccer recreationally as well.  But Caleb really just knew how to strike the ball toward the net and didn’t really internalize the finer skills of the sport.  In truth, that’s how Caleb played every sport.  He was agile, athletic, and coordinated, but he didn’t devote enough of himself to any one sport to master the fundamental technical skills in any of them.  This was okay in his teens; he simply outplayed his peers with his physical skills.  However, that approach became less effective as the talent of his opponents increased. When Caleb realized he was spreading himself too thin across too many sports, he decided to focus on just one for his last two years of high school.  He consulted his family, friends, and coaches on the matter, and with their support he made soccer his top priority.  His physique and athletic talents were most compatible with the needs of a striker, and with more focused training, Caleb picked up better ball control, passing, and positioning skills.  As the varsity captain, he led the team to its first winning season in decades, and the massive surge in success put the school on the national stage. Tokyo selected Caleb in the S6 draft with their 10th overall pick, hoping he could elevate their success as well.  The team thought his personality was a great fit with the rest of the squad, and Caleb was extremely excited to join his new organization.  What he remembers most about his first impression of Tokyo S.C. was that “everyone was very welcoming.”  As a supporting striker to Sky Ryze, Caleb finished his S6 rookie season with 5 goals and 4 assists, making a strong case that Tokyo delivered the league’s rookie of the year for the second season in a row, but the S6 award was ultimately given to Sydney’s central defender Roberto Scarpetta instead. Caleb played his first 6 seasons in the SSL with Tokyo S.C. and scored 30 goals and 8 assists over 66 appearances.  When Tokyo and Cairo City merged into an organization for S12, the managers felt Caleb was a better fit to move down to the minor league and lead Cairo City’s offense.  He then played the final 6 seasons of his SSL with Cairo, his contributions highlighted by 41 goals and 11 assists in 83 minor league matches.  His best season was his 14 goals in 14 appearances in S15, landing 65.7% of his shots on target and scoring on 40.0% of them.  These marks were well above his solid career average 0.6 goals/90, 48% on-target rate, and 18.5% scoring rate across major and minor league play. One of the most controversial elements of Caleb’s game was his tendency to jump offsides.  He averaged 1.3 offsides/90 over his career.  Thanks to a clever idea by Tokyo’s marketing manager, that flaw became his sponsorship identity, spinning his habit of offsides into a brand deal with Dunkin Donuts.  Caleb was jumpy, jittery, and caffeinated out on the pitch, “and you could be too,” read the advertisement.  He became well-known for wearing a home-sewn patch of the company on his jersey, and he loved that he could represent something from where he grew up.  After Caleb retired, the rumor around the league was that he returned to the northeastern US to continue his work with Dunkin Donuts, but he escaped from the public eye.  Nobody knows what he is doing now, but we do know one thing: Caleb always believed in himself, and Cairokyo did too.