2022-06-26, 10:31 AM - Word count:
Expansion teams are generally not expected to do particularly well in their first season, with most of them generally consisting of rookies and players who either weren’t good enough or didn’t fit into their previous teams well enough to be protected. AS Paris, however, are defying these expectations. Let’s take a look at the team’s first 11 matches and see what exactly happened to place this team solidly in the upper midfield of the league table. Also, we’re not gonna talk about the cup because I don’t want to have to rewatch those games again…
Match 1 - Paris 4-3 Montreal
The bleus-et-rouges started off their SSL tally with a home win against their fellow francophones from Canada. It took only 4 minutes for the club’s first ever SSL goal - scored by Sebastien Pelletier, with an assist from Leonidas Papadopoulos. And just a minute later, the two players would reverse their roles, as Pelletier set up Papadopoulos for a second goal. Near the end of the half, Ayomide Ayodele put the hometown team up by 3. In the second half though, Montreal began mounting a bit of a comeback, with Siilver Druid scoring 2 goals in the span of 10 minutes to make the score 3-2. Another 10 minutes later though, Papadopoulos scored his second of the night to put his team out of the 1 goal lead danger zone, but Manny Calavera scored Montreal’s 3rd goal right afterwards to keep the pressure on. Paris held strong though, and managed to maintain their lead until the final whistle. Paris MotM: Leonidas Papadopoulos.
Match 2 - Paris 1-2 Seoul
Paris’s first away game didn’t go quite as well. They matched their opponents fairly well, but Seoul managed to find two goals in the first half that Paris just couldn’t keep up with. They did end the match on a good note though - as about 30 seconds before the final whistle, Sebastien Pelletier scored an absolute rocket of a goal off the assist from Milan Horvat. It wasn’t enough to get them the win, but it did get him the Paris MotM award.
Match 3 - Paris 2-1 Buenos Aires
Back in the Stade des Reves, ASP reversed the scoreline of their previous match in their favour. That said, it was actually CABA who took the lead first - though it took a while to happen, all the way into the 59th minute when the goal was scored by Antonio Governo, assisted by Lukas Weiss (i don’t have the german S thing on my keyboard ok). It didn’t take long for Paris to tie it up, and it was the captain himself, Papadopoulos, who did it off of a pass from Bryzski - and another 10 minutes later, Papadopoulos scored the game winning goal. Paris MotM: Leonidas Papadopoulos.
Match 4 - Paris 2-0 Cairo
Paris took their first ever away win over in Cairo. Midfielder Peter Oak put them into the lead 23 minutes in with his first goal of the season, assisted by Mikko Jarvala - and it seems like Cairo’s Alessio Calvatore was really unhappy with that considering he got a yellow card right afterwards. Paris’s second goal came in the second half, with Oak assisting Isabela Cortez on her first career goal. It should be noted though, that despite the scoreline, Paris actually lost on xG - it was 1.49 to 1.57, indicating that Paris goalkeeper Radek Soboda’s 8 saves played a major part in Paris’s win here. Despite that though, the Paris MotM was Mikko Jarvala.
Match 5 - Paris 0-2 Catalunya
Matches against championship contending teams are, unsurprisingly, very tough, and Paris could not keep up with the pace of Catalunya. Almost every significant stat for this match leans quite a bit in Catalunya’s favour. Mojo Rizing opened the scoring in the 38th minute, and Budget Busquets dealt the death blow to Paris in the 87th minute. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala, for the second match in a row.
Match 6 - Paris 1-1 Sydney
The first ever draw in AS Paris history - but against a top team, we’ll take it. Papadopoulos got his team the lead in the 27th minute off of a pass from Mac Allister, and going into halftime Paris was up 1-0 - however, Sydney is not the kind of team to go down easily, and some time into the second half Skoomina Hulk a Votto equalised the score - and that 1-1 score is how the match ended. Sydney did look like the stronger team in this match, but Paris kept themselves in it and managed to eek out a point. Paris MotM: Twilight Sparkle.
Match 7 - Paris 0-1 Athenai
A tough loss to Athenai. Though it was a hard fought match, Athenai were the better team on the night, and Jeffrey LaVert proved it by finishing off a scoring chance created by Jeff King in the second half. It should be noted that, though Paris had more shots on target this match, Athenai had a significantly higher xG, indicating that they were creating much better chances than their opposition. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala
Match 8 - Paris 4-3 London
Rivalries are always fun. France and England have been at each other’s throats for centuries, so it’s only natural that that would carry over into fake football as well. Cortez and Papadopoulos quickly put ASP on the board with 2 goals in the first 7 minutes, throwing down the gauntlet and challenging London to match them, and match them they did - first George Gordon in the 25th minute, and then K Clamence near the end of the half. But just as it seemed like we were about to go into half-time tied at 2-2, Mikko Jarvala decided he has other plans, bringing Paris back into the lead in the 43rd minute. Afterwards, there was some downtime - all the way until the 80th minute, when Papadopoulos pretty much sealed the deal, making the score 4-2. George Gordon managed to score another consolation goal for London, but the southern side of the Chunnel prevailed this time around. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala. Again.
Match 9 - Paris 1-0 Accra
The first S4 Expansion Bowl saw Paris fairly comfortably in control of the game the whole way through - as evidenced by Accra not having a single shot on target the entire game. Papadopoulos scored the only goal of the game, off of a pass from Cortez, but he wasn’t the Man of the Match, and neither was Jarvala this time around. Surprisingly enough, it was the legend himself, A Singular Tub of FazeBerry GFuel Energy Formula - The Official Drink of ESports.
Match 10 - Paris 2-2 Tokyo
Facing off against the current league leaders is a daunting task, and oh boy did Tokyo put up the pressure. 24 shots to 6, 2.07 vs 0.62 xG. And yet, Paris managed to somehow pull out a draw here. In fact, not only did they draw, they were actually leading for a little bit. Emiliano-Yoichi Isagi opened the scoring for Tokyo early, but Paris didn’t take particularly long to respond with two goals, one from Cortez and one from Milan Horvat. Paris held the lead heading into the second half, but it didn’t last too long - Helena Soderberg made it 2-2 just two minutes into the half. Paris MotM: Milan Horvat.
Match 11 - Paris 1-2 Hollywood
Paris unfortunately ended the first half of the season with a loss to Hollywood FC. That said, if you look at the stats, it’s clear this is another case of “Paris is severely outmatched yet somehow manage to keep the scoreline pretty close”. I mean, Hollywood had 11 shots on target, Paris had 3. Though Radek Soboda has generally been one of the weaker spots on ASP, for this match he really showed up to play. Tiki Taka scored for HFC in the 12th minute, but it was disallowed due to offside. Paris managed to hold on for 30 minutes more after that before finally conceding again to Ricky Bobby. A few minutes into the second half though, Pelletier passes it to Papadopoulos, who puts it into the back of the net to tie the game up and bring some hope back to Paris - but it didn’t last too long, as 6 minutes later Ricky Bobby scored a second goal, which ended up winning the game for Hollywood. Paris MotM: Sebastien Pelletier.
Overall, we can see that Paris have, for the most part, been beating the teams they should be better than - and, notably, even in the matches against the top teams, they’re still keeping in it somewhat. I think that scrappiness might be a primary reason for them outperforming expectations.
Match 1 - Paris 4-3 Montreal
The bleus-et-rouges started off their SSL tally with a home win against their fellow francophones from Canada. It took only 4 minutes for the club’s first ever SSL goal - scored by Sebastien Pelletier, with an assist from Leonidas Papadopoulos. And just a minute later, the two players would reverse their roles, as Pelletier set up Papadopoulos for a second goal. Near the end of the half, Ayomide Ayodele put the hometown team up by 3. In the second half though, Montreal began mounting a bit of a comeback, with Siilver Druid scoring 2 goals in the span of 10 minutes to make the score 3-2. Another 10 minutes later though, Papadopoulos scored his second of the night to put his team out of the 1 goal lead danger zone, but Manny Calavera scored Montreal’s 3rd goal right afterwards to keep the pressure on. Paris held strong though, and managed to maintain their lead until the final whistle. Paris MotM: Leonidas Papadopoulos.
Match 2 - Paris 1-2 Seoul
Paris’s first away game didn’t go quite as well. They matched their opponents fairly well, but Seoul managed to find two goals in the first half that Paris just couldn’t keep up with. They did end the match on a good note though - as about 30 seconds before the final whistle, Sebastien Pelletier scored an absolute rocket of a goal off the assist from Milan Horvat. It wasn’t enough to get them the win, but it did get him the Paris MotM award.
Match 3 - Paris 2-1 Buenos Aires
Back in the Stade des Reves, ASP reversed the scoreline of their previous match in their favour. That said, it was actually CABA who took the lead first - though it took a while to happen, all the way into the 59th minute when the goal was scored by Antonio Governo, assisted by Lukas Weiss (i don’t have the german S thing on my keyboard ok). It didn’t take long for Paris to tie it up, and it was the captain himself, Papadopoulos, who did it off of a pass from Bryzski - and another 10 minutes later, Papadopoulos scored the game winning goal. Paris MotM: Leonidas Papadopoulos.
Match 4 - Paris 2-0 Cairo
Paris took their first ever away win over in Cairo. Midfielder Peter Oak put them into the lead 23 minutes in with his first goal of the season, assisted by Mikko Jarvala - and it seems like Cairo’s Alessio Calvatore was really unhappy with that considering he got a yellow card right afterwards. Paris’s second goal came in the second half, with Oak assisting Isabela Cortez on her first career goal. It should be noted though, that despite the scoreline, Paris actually lost on xG - it was 1.49 to 1.57, indicating that Paris goalkeeper Radek Soboda’s 8 saves played a major part in Paris’s win here. Despite that though, the Paris MotM was Mikko Jarvala.
Match 5 - Paris 0-2 Catalunya
Matches against championship contending teams are, unsurprisingly, very tough, and Paris could not keep up with the pace of Catalunya. Almost every significant stat for this match leans quite a bit in Catalunya’s favour. Mojo Rizing opened the scoring in the 38th minute, and Budget Busquets dealt the death blow to Paris in the 87th minute. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala, for the second match in a row.
Match 6 - Paris 1-1 Sydney
The first ever draw in AS Paris history - but against a top team, we’ll take it. Papadopoulos got his team the lead in the 27th minute off of a pass from Mac Allister, and going into halftime Paris was up 1-0 - however, Sydney is not the kind of team to go down easily, and some time into the second half Skoomina Hulk a Votto equalised the score - and that 1-1 score is how the match ended. Sydney did look like the stronger team in this match, but Paris kept themselves in it and managed to eek out a point. Paris MotM: Twilight Sparkle.
Match 7 - Paris 0-1 Athenai
A tough loss to Athenai. Though it was a hard fought match, Athenai were the better team on the night, and Jeffrey LaVert proved it by finishing off a scoring chance created by Jeff King in the second half. It should be noted that, though Paris had more shots on target this match, Athenai had a significantly higher xG, indicating that they were creating much better chances than their opposition. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala
Match 8 - Paris 4-3 London
Rivalries are always fun. France and England have been at each other’s throats for centuries, so it’s only natural that that would carry over into fake football as well. Cortez and Papadopoulos quickly put ASP on the board with 2 goals in the first 7 minutes, throwing down the gauntlet and challenging London to match them, and match them they did - first George Gordon in the 25th minute, and then K Clamence near the end of the half. But just as it seemed like we were about to go into half-time tied at 2-2, Mikko Jarvala decided he has other plans, bringing Paris back into the lead in the 43rd minute. Afterwards, there was some downtime - all the way until the 80th minute, when Papadopoulos pretty much sealed the deal, making the score 4-2. George Gordon managed to score another consolation goal for London, but the southern side of the Chunnel prevailed this time around. Paris MotM: Mikko Jarvala. Again.
Match 9 - Paris 1-0 Accra
The first S4 Expansion Bowl saw Paris fairly comfortably in control of the game the whole way through - as evidenced by Accra not having a single shot on target the entire game. Papadopoulos scored the only goal of the game, off of a pass from Cortez, but he wasn’t the Man of the Match, and neither was Jarvala this time around. Surprisingly enough, it was the legend himself, A Singular Tub of FazeBerry GFuel Energy Formula - The Official Drink of ESports.
Match 10 - Paris 2-2 Tokyo
Facing off against the current league leaders is a daunting task, and oh boy did Tokyo put up the pressure. 24 shots to 6, 2.07 vs 0.62 xG. And yet, Paris managed to somehow pull out a draw here. In fact, not only did they draw, they were actually leading for a little bit. Emiliano-Yoichi Isagi opened the scoring for Tokyo early, but Paris didn’t take particularly long to respond with two goals, one from Cortez and one from Milan Horvat. Paris held the lead heading into the second half, but it didn’t last too long - Helena Soderberg made it 2-2 just two minutes into the half. Paris MotM: Milan Horvat.
Match 11 - Paris 1-2 Hollywood
Paris unfortunately ended the first half of the season with a loss to Hollywood FC. That said, if you look at the stats, it’s clear this is another case of “Paris is severely outmatched yet somehow manage to keep the scoreline pretty close”. I mean, Hollywood had 11 shots on target, Paris had 3. Though Radek Soboda has generally been one of the weaker spots on ASP, for this match he really showed up to play. Tiki Taka scored for HFC in the 12th minute, but it was disallowed due to offside. Paris managed to hold on for 30 minutes more after that before finally conceding again to Ricky Bobby. A few minutes into the second half though, Pelletier passes it to Papadopoulos, who puts it into the back of the net to tie the game up and bring some hope back to Paris - but it didn’t last too long, as 6 minutes later Ricky Bobby scored a second goal, which ended up winning the game for Hollywood. Paris MotM: Sebastien Pelletier.
Overall, we can see that Paris have, for the most part, been beating the teams they should be better than - and, notably, even in the matches against the top teams, they’re still keeping in it somewhat. I think that scrappiness might be a primary reason for them outperforming expectations.
