2026-08-30, 10:27 AM - Word count:
Today we’ll be switching it up and writing something else in place of the usual Joe’s Journey. This is totally not because I am desperate to write some sort of article before bedtime Sunday. Not even close. Will try to see if I can catch up the story to where the league actually is ASAP.
It’s been a fairly interesting first season. Going straight into the first division, albeit for the minor teams, I was uncertain as for what to expect. Would I be completely outmatched? Most likely. In almost every match. What about the team, then, one might wonder. To that, I say… worry more or less just as much, considering that we had half the team be made up of rookies. This could get crazy, I thought, and few could have been optimistic on our behalf. Yet, winning the first two of the season changed the perspective quite a bit. Our management and more experienced players reminded us that those were likely going to be the matches in which we would fare the best; the opposition were the teams that would be at more or less at the same stage as us. We should still expect heavy beatings against some of the teams brimming with players just about ready to make the step up to the majors. Sure, but in that case, wasn’t beating our two closest competitors straight off the bat a great sign that we would thrive and even end safely in the middle of the table?
Apparently it wasn’t. We hardly got any points against stronger opponents, instead picking them up where one might expect us to. Which would be cause for happiness under normal circumstances. But things are rarely normal in SSL. The teams supposedly at our level were somehow able to persist and resist the strength of the big dogs, while we went on what felt like a never-ending streak of, first losses, and since just.. well, without any wins. It really felt like an eternity. Joe’s performances also weren’t exactly cause for celebration, and it did seem a little hopeless at one point. Only a couple of things really kept us afloat: the fact that only one team would even (potentially, after play-off) get relegated courtesy of the expansion of the league, and then the fact that we were using the cheatcode otherwise known as N’Goussou.
It’s quite funny that, when I was writing one of the stories ahead of the season, I highlighted N’Goussou as the star whom the fans were most excited to see. About a day later, someone mentioned that he had apparently had (one of the? THE?) lowest average rating in the league in the previous season. Whoops. I had just gone by TPE. Luckily, the game decided to follow suit, as he turned into an absolute force of destruction, scoring goal after goal for a team that otherwise continued to struggle to accomplish.. well, just about anything at all.
At the end of the day, those two factors kept us up. And I’m delighted that they did, because we will now have a team full of players who have grown however much one does throughout a season of SSL, which may just about make us strong enough to actually be a mid-table side this time around. So long as we ignore the fact that every other team has also had the benefit of getting another season under their belts. At least some of them might have moved star players to the majors. I hope. Haven’t actually had time to keep up. Speaking of which, I miss the S26 chat on Discord. Should check in with everyone sometime soon.
It’s been a fairly interesting first season. Going straight into the first division, albeit for the minor teams, I was uncertain as for what to expect. Would I be completely outmatched? Most likely. In almost every match. What about the team, then, one might wonder. To that, I say… worry more or less just as much, considering that we had half the team be made up of rookies. This could get crazy, I thought, and few could have been optimistic on our behalf. Yet, winning the first two of the season changed the perspective quite a bit. Our management and more experienced players reminded us that those were likely going to be the matches in which we would fare the best; the opposition were the teams that would be at more or less at the same stage as us. We should still expect heavy beatings against some of the teams brimming with players just about ready to make the step up to the majors. Sure, but in that case, wasn’t beating our two closest competitors straight off the bat a great sign that we would thrive and even end safely in the middle of the table?
Apparently it wasn’t. We hardly got any points against stronger opponents, instead picking them up where one might expect us to. Which would be cause for happiness under normal circumstances. But things are rarely normal in SSL. The teams supposedly at our level were somehow able to persist and resist the strength of the big dogs, while we went on what felt like a never-ending streak of, first losses, and since just.. well, without any wins. It really felt like an eternity. Joe’s performances also weren’t exactly cause for celebration, and it did seem a little hopeless at one point. Only a couple of things really kept us afloat: the fact that only one team would even (potentially, after play-off) get relegated courtesy of the expansion of the league, and then the fact that we were using the cheatcode otherwise known as N’Goussou.
It’s quite funny that, when I was writing one of the stories ahead of the season, I highlighted N’Goussou as the star whom the fans were most excited to see. About a day later, someone mentioned that he had apparently had (one of the? THE?) lowest average rating in the league in the previous season. Whoops. I had just gone by TPE. Luckily, the game decided to follow suit, as he turned into an absolute force of destruction, scoring goal after goal for a team that otherwise continued to struggle to accomplish.. well, just about anything at all.
At the end of the day, those two factors kept us up. And I’m delighted that they did, because we will now have a team full of players who have grown however much one does throughout a season of SSL, which may just about make us strong enough to actually be a mid-table side this time around. So long as we ignore the fact that every other team has also had the benefit of getting another season under their belts. At least some of them might have moved star players to the majors. I hope. Haven’t actually had time to keep up. Speaking of which, I miss the S26 chat on Discord. Should check in with everyone sometime soon.
