Simulation Soccer League S2 Review

[FuriousChicken]

We are back, with a small look at the 2nd season of the SSL. But first the previous seasons:
S1 - Season 1 Review

After the sun had set on the first ever season, Cairo City walking away the eventual champions 3 points above 2nd place Inter London, and Tokyo taking home the cup. Season 2 had some changes for the league. Because of the increase is the amount of players wanting to play in the SSL the league expanded with 2 teams, names will follow later. On top of this now a championship winner, and cup winner where decided, it also meant the SSL would see it’s very first shield being played, a from this point onwards annual match between the league (later D1/Major League) winner, and the cup winner (or 2nd place in the league if this is the same team).

Teams:

Let us look at the teams going into next season, both the 6 teams that were here from last season, and the 2 new teams joining them.

1. Athenai FC

First off is once again the team from Greece, having come in 3rd last season, Athenai has kept the same manager, with Canadice still being the manager. Athenai did use a grand total of 16 different players. With their mainly used squad looking like:

GK: Jannik Andersen (Athenai)

WBR: A Singular Tub of Fazeberry ® GFuel ® Energy Formula - The Official Drink of ESports ® (Athenai)

DC: Henrik Lind (Athenai)

DC: Eirlys Snooks (Debut)

WBL: Deedee Yoker (Athenai)

DM: Lari Ligmanen (Debut)

MC: Zinedine Gintonic (Athenai)

MC: Laurent Gourcuff (Debut)

AMR: Cal Labovitch (Debut)

AML: Icarus Isosceles (Athenai)

STC: Trevor Malone (Hollywood)

S1: Olsen Minion [AML] (Athenai)

S2: Andreas Aadnevik [STC] (Athenai)

S3: Arwyn Lamb [AMR] (Athenai)

S4: Christian Silver [DM] (Athenai)

S5: Antonio Conte [STC] (Debut)

2. Cairo City

Next up Cairo City, having won the league the last time around they will be hoping they can repeat it, they have kept their league winning manager Will3, and the squad that they hope will do it is:

GK: Radek Soboda (Cairo)

DR: Timo Reinmann (Cairo)

DC: Powdered ToastMan (Debut)

DC: BOT Tutankhamunt (BOT)

DL: Ask Jeeves (Cairo)

DM: Alessio Calvatore (Cairo)

MC: Ayomide Ayodele (Debut)

MC: Davy Mac (Cairo)

AMR: Narsko Koivu (Cairo)

AML: Jakup Larsen (Cairo)

STC: Franco Torres (Cairo)

S1: BOT Amenhotep [DC] (BOT)

S2: Skooma Hulk a Votto [AMC] (Debut)

3. Rio FC

Next up Rio FC, for who last season was not a good one, ending in 6th, and thus last place, having kept Semokala as manager going into season 2, Rio will be hoping for a better season this time around.

GK: King Kong (Debut)

DR: Cole Mertz (Debut)

DC: George Costanza (Rio)

DC: PenaltyTo Rangers (Rio)

DL: Tim Possible (Debut)

MC: Milan Horvat (Rio)

MC: Malakai Black (Rio)*

AMR: Haruka Mayoi (Rio)

AMC: Oscar Fernandes (Cairo)

AML: Ketchup Noodle (Debut)

STC: Sky Ryze (Debut)

S1: Benji Atreides [MC] (Hollywood)*

S2: SSL BOT Rio [DM] (BOT)

*Between matchday 9 and matchday 10 there was a trade with Hollywood, seeing Malakai Black going to Hollywood, while Benji Atreides joined Rio.

4. Hollywood FC

Next up Hollywood FC, who ended in a mid-table position last season getting the 4th place, another team keeping their manager, which is 3lewsers in their case. Hollywood will be hoping for a step up, and the 14 players who are going to try to do that are:

GK: Scott Sterling (Hollywood)

DR: Hun Possible (Debut)

DC: Mikko Järvälä (Hollywood)

DC: Spack Jarrow (Debut)

DL: Gerald Gerrard (Debut)

DM: Alfredo Puttanesca (Cairo)

MC: Mikko Rashford (Hollywood)

MC: Jordan Rossiter (Debut)

STC: Hunter Jones (Rio)

STC: Ricky Bobby (Hollywood)

STC: Tiki Taka (Hollywood)

S1: Malakai Black [MC] (Rio)*

S2: Benji Atreides [MC] (Hollywood)*

S3: Arcueid Brunestud [GK] (Rio)

* Between matchday 9 and matchday 10 there was a trade with Rio, seeing Malakai Black coming to Hollywood, while Benji Atreides joined Rio.

5. Inter London

Last season saw Inter London coming close to the title, eventually losing out in 2nd with 3 points behind the leader. With the manager frazzle14 remaining Inter London might hope to do another throw to the title again. Their squad for this is:

GK: Tony Yeboah (London)

DR: Linnea Nesse (London)

DC: Connor Azpilicueta (London)

DC: Pasta the Turtle (Debut)

DL: Mazrim Taim (London)

MC: Bud-Lite "Large Box" McGuirk (Debut)

MC: George Gordon (London)

AMR: K Clamence (London)

AML: Liang Kuai (London)

STC: Jack O’Conner (London)

STC: Keon Joseph (Debut)

S1: John Wellerman [STC] (London)

6. Tokyo S.C.

Last time the league was not that amazing for Tokyo, ending up in 5th, however they did manage to win the cup, remaining manager Graydonsanatomy will hope to bring some more silverware to Tokyo this season.

GK: Pingu Nootazuki (Tokyo)

WBR: Helena Söderberg (Tokyo)

DC: Mike Rup (Tokyo)

DC: Sam Siege (Tokyo)

DC: Squall Vercetti (Tokyo)

WBL: Jonas Thessenvitz (Tokyo)

DM: Guillaume-Olivier Aubuchon-Touchette (Debut)

DM: Xabi Akinfenwa (Debut)

AMC: Emilliano-Yoichi Isagi (Tokyo)

STC: Kaspars Briedis (Tokyo)

STC: Owen Forty-Four (Debut)

S1: Barry Batsbak [WBL] (Tokyo)

7. CF Catalunya

One of the 2 new additions to this season was CF Catalunya from Spain, managed by Omniscius, and this was their initial squad:

GK: Alexandra Gunnarsson (Debut)

DR: Vins Vins (Debut)

DC: Aleksandar Stojakovic (London)

DC: Jökull Júlíusson (Debut)

DL: Xherdan Xhaka (Debut)

DM: Budget Busquets (Athenai)

MC: Awesome McPossum (Hollywood)

MC: Blueberry Poptart (Rio)

AMR: Shion Okamoto (Tokyo)

AML: Tim Sinclair (Athenai)

STC: Mack Fred (Hollywood)

S1: Elanor Lorien [AML] (Rio)

S2: Jackson Clarke [AML] (Debut)

S3: Leonidas Papadopoulos [STC] (Debut)

8. Montréal United

The 2nd new addition was Montréal United, managed by Big Newff, and this was their initial squad:

GK: Adam Rage (Debut)

WBR: Giannis Kroustis (Hollywood)

DC: Darren Lockyer (Debut)

DC: Dorian Lexington (Debut)

DC: Dr. Doofenschmitz (Athenai)

WBL: Ioannis Papastathopoulos (Debut)

MC: Makrus "the Tater" Jager (Debut)

MC: Patrik Björkås (Tokyo)

AMR: Siilver Druid (Debut)

AML: Nevin Kisbet (London)

STC: Coffee Biscuit (Debut)

S1: Kofi Anshah (Debut)

S2: Heh Heh (Cairo)

Shield:

First a small look at the shield that took place between S1 league winner Cairo City, and S1 cup winner Tokyo. The first half started strong for Cairo with Koivu scoring the 1-0 in the 23rd minute, however London came back quickly, and even took the lead with a 31st minute 1-1 by Forty-Four, and a 1-2 in the 33rd minute by Briedis. The first half was very even outside of the goals, but Cairo would really prove to be the stronger team in the 2nd half, dominating Tokyo, but only managing to get 1 goal by Torres scoring the 2-2 in the 81st minute. That meant the game went to extra time, where outside of 1 big chance by Cairo nothing much happened. Which meant the game would go to penalties. Both teams scoring the first penalty, but Isagi then missing the 2nd for Tokyo, Cairo missed their 3rd penalty, where both teams scored the 4th and 5th, but Cairo missed the 6th, where Tokyo scored their 6th which means Tokyo (1/1) wins the first ever shield from Cairo (0/1).

League:

So that were the 8 teams fighting for the title in this 2nd season of the league. The extra teams also means the league goes from 10 games to 14 games per team. The first matchday did not go that well for last seasons champion Cairo City, losing 3-1 to Rio FC. London also lost 3-1 but they did it to Montréal, where Athenai and Hollywood started with a 4-0 win against Tokyo and Catalunya respectively. The 2nd matchday got the league closer, with Cairo, and London both winning against Montréal and Tokyo respectively, Hollywood beating Rio, and Athenai and Catalunya sharing the points. After MD3 the closeness of the league remained, at least behind Hollywood, as Hollywood beat Montréal to go to 9 points, while Athenai and London drew 0-0, Tokyo and Cairo drew 1-1, and Rio and Catalunya drew 2-2, meaning Hollywood had a 4 points lead after only 3 matchdays. However this did not last long, with Tokyo beating Hollywood, and London, Athenai winning bringing the top 3 to 9, 8, and 7 poiints for Hollywood, Athenai, and London respectively. Hollywood and Athenai then won their MD5, and MD6 while London got 0 points, meaning that Hollywood was now on 15, Athenai on 14, while London was in 3rd on 8 points. Hollywood and London winning in matchday 7, while Athenai lost meant that Hollywood regained their 4 points lead going into the 2nd half of the season. Last seasons champion Cairo was meanwhile in 8th with 5 points, with last seasons cup winner Tokyo being in 7th with 6 points. The 2 new teams were 4th and 5th, with 8 and 7 points respectively (Catalunya/Montréal).

The 2nd half of the season started very much the same as the first half ended, with Hollywood and London winning in MD8+9, while Athenai lost in MD8+9, meaning the teams now had 24, 17, and 15 points respectively. In matchday 10 London lost against Athenai meaning that Athenai went over London again. But this remained for quite a bit, Athenai winning all but the final game of the season, however Hollywood (1) was already too far away, winning their first ever championship in matchday 12, eventually getting 36 points, over Athenai (0) in 2nd with 27 points, London (0) in 3rd with 23, Catalunya (0) in 4th with 19, Montréal (0) in 5th with 16, last season’s champion, Cairo (1), in 6th with 14 points, Tokyo (0) in 7th with 12, and Rio (0) once again coming in last with 11 points.

Cup:

Now onto the cup, which saw a slight change, as with 8 teams there was no need anymore to give 2 teams free entries into the semi-final, all teams now entering in the quarter-final.

The first tie was Montréal against Rio, with montréal winning the first match 4-0, and the 2nd 2-1 to go through 6-1.

The 2nd was Tokyo-London, with London winning both games 2-1, for a combined 4-2, knocked out the reigning cup winner.

The 3rd was Athenai-Cairo, Athenai winning game 1 2-0, and game 2 3-2 for a combined 5-2.

The 4th and final tie saw Hollywood taking on Catalunya, drawing 1-1 in game 1, but eventually winning 2-1 for a combined 3-2.

Then comes the semi-final, Athenai taking on Hollywood, with the games ending in a 2-0 win for Hollywood, and a 1-0 win for Hollywood ending in a combined Athenai 0-3 Hollywood.

The other semi-final tie was Montréal-London, with the first game ending in a 3-0 for London, and the 2nd in a 3-2 for London, ending the tie 6-2 for London.

Now for the final, where we see London taking on Hollywood. Inter London scored the 1-0 in the 20th minute with a Wellerman goal, and a 2-0 lead by another Wellerman goal in the 45+1st minute. Going into the 2nd half there came a different Hollywood onto the field, scoring the 2-1 in the 49th minute with a Taka goal, and Jones making it 2-2 in the 68th minute. In the 87th minute Järvälä seemed to make it 3-2, but the goal got disallowed, which means extra time, and with not much happening in the extra time it meant penalties, where Jones missed the very first penalty for Hollywood, but Kuai missed the 3rd for London, and Azpilicueta missed the 5th, and final penalty for London, meaning Hollywood does the double and gets their first ever cup win.

Awards:

Manager of the Year: The manager of the year was 3lewsers (1) from Hollywood FC.

MVP: The MVP went to Hollywood’s striker Ricky Bobby (1)

Golden Boot: The golden boot for most goals went to Hollywood’s Ricky Bobby (1) making 16 goals

Golden Eye: Jakup Larsen (1) from Cairo with 8 assists.

Golden Glove: Jannik Andersen (2) from team Athenai with 5 clean sheets.

Team of the Season:

GK – Jannik Andersen (1, Athenai)

WB – Gerald Gerrard (1, Hollywood) + Ask Jeeves (1, Cairo)

CB – Dorian Lexington (1, Montréal) + Henrik Lind (1, Athenai)

CM – Budget Busquets (1, Catalunya) + Mikko Rashford (1, Hollywood)

W – K Clamence (2, London) + Ketchup Noodle (1, Rio)

ST – Ricky Bobby (1, Hollywood) + Hunter Jones (1, Hollywood)

[Hero19]

The effort you put into extrapolating the data shines through in this exceptional article.

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