Academy Task 5: The Cairo City Arc of Franco Torres

[Bamford13]

Franco Torres was drafted with the 1st pick in the 9th round of the inaugural S1 draft by the Cairo City Football Club. He was seemingly nothing more than a throwaway pick, Cairo had drafted striker Heh Heh in round 4, attacking midfielder Jakup Larson in round 3 and a few other attackers late for depth.

So Franco should go into S1 as a reserve player, maybe get some minutes here and there and possibly make an impact.

Nope, Franco decides to start his career by completely taking the league by storm and dominating. Franco started in all 14 games for Cairo, relegating 4th rounder Hem Hem to a reserve. He scored 15 goals in 14 games, tying for first in goals scored with fellow 9th rounder Jack O’Conner, and he added an assist to get 16 goal contributions which led the league. He was first in average rating for anyone with significant minutes with a 7.56 and he tied for first in player of the matches with 5.

(I found it interesting that the top 5 goal scorers in S1 were all drafted in r7 or later)

So in his first season, as one of the last picks in the draft, Franco goes out and leads the league in goal contributions, is the best player in the league by average rating, and on top of all of that he leads Cairo to be SSL League Champions. HE ALSO WINS MVP along with sharing the golden boot. Absolutely crazy rookie season for someone who was in the last 6 picks of the draft. Absolute steal for Cairo already.

He follows this elite season up with another great season in S2. His output slightly decreased with him putting up 12 goals and 0 assists in 16 games. Cairo also got worse in the league, not even getting close to winning the league. But on the bright side, Torres and Jakup Larson showed that they had a connection with Larson leading the league in assists this season.

Franco might not have been the MVP but he still showed that his rookie season wasn’t a fluke. Sadly Jack O’Conner’s rookie season was a fluke. He proved that he was one of the elite strikers in the league and that he would be for the time to come

In Season 3 Cairo only won 2 games and only picked up 9 points on the season. Franco kept his production going through the struggles with another 12 goal, 0 assist season. Nothing else really stood out about this season for him. Still a good season for him, with being top 5 in goals, but not as good as his S1 campaign

Apparently this season wasn’t good enough for Cairo to keep faith in their star 9th round striker. In the offseason they decided to acquire striker Connor Azpilicueta from the Inter London Football club who was coming off an elite 17 goal, 5 assists league winning performance.

This move did help the struggling club go from a bottom feeder to a mid table team and Azpilicueta cooked with 13 goals and 5 assists. Franco Torres still managed to produce with the new competition on the squad, scoring 12 goals again and adding 2 assists.
The coaches apparently like what they saw in season 4, Azpilicueta took more of a playmaker role and Torres regained his striker role. Torres had another Torres level season with 11 goals and 2 assists. Cairo had another mediocre season, nothing really noteworthy.

In season 6, the 9th rounder had the best season of his career by far. 17 goals and 2 assists for him, which completely blows his MVP season out of the water. He was top 5 in the league in player rating and he led Cairo to a top finish in a while. He was also one of the strikers in the team of the year for the first time since season 1.

In his 7th season in the league Torres did more Torresing, 14 goals, 2 assists nothing noteworthy. Torres is just the goat

Torres didn’t Torres in season 8 though. Career low on goals in S8 with only 10 goals to go with 2 assists. Cairo regressed to one of the worst records in the league and everything looked down for Cairo City FC. Torres obviously resigned to his boyhood club who took a chance on him.

But before he could play his 9th season with the team, he was traded. Due to their poor season prior, Cairo would be relegated. Someone in their prime like Franco couldn’t waste a season playing in the minors so a trade came about. CA Buenos Aires traded their S9&10 1sts and 2nds, as well as player Keno Akara. It was a hefty sum to pay but Franco Torres had been one of the best strikers in the league for nearly 10 seasons.

Buenos Aires had a pretty good season 8, coming in 4th place. They had elite playmakers in the midfield, however, they lacked a strong number 9. The solution? Franco Torres. Torres could elevate this team to a championship contender if he brought his elite level of play. He was coming off the worst season of his career so it was a major risk. Would it pay off? Wait till next time to find out.

[Canadice]

Story of @r1c3bowl22!

[r1c3bowl22]

@Bamford13 What an excellent read, great thing to come back to the site to!

[omniscius]

Torres early career is plagued by playing for clubs who simply couldn't compete for a title. Whilst Cairo were successful his first season, Torres struggled a lot until he went to Reykjavik where he went from playing on teams with little chance of success to powerhouse favourites. I wonder what Franco Torres's career looks like if he went to HFC and play his prime on the most dominate team of his era.