2025-02-02, 05:50 PM - Word count: 775
The S18 World Simulation Football Classic has come to a close, as teams from around the world fought their way to a wild finish in the revival of the international tournament for the SSL. This season’s final match featured teams from Benelux and West Africa, each boasting an impressive record and challenging path to the final.
First, let’s look at West Africa’s results on their road to the final:
5-2 W vs South America
2-1 W vs Canada
4-3 W vs Benelux
1-0 W vs Oceania
4-2 W vs Central America
The African juggernaut team enters the final, perhaps unsurprisingly, with an undefeated record, including a win against final opponent Benelux. Despite the perfect record, only their opening win against South America felt truly dominant, with 3 of their 5 wins coming by just one goal.
Benelux enters as the underdog, but not without an impressive record of their own:
9-4 W vs Canada
5-3 W vs South America
3-4 L vs West Africa
5-2 W vs Alpen
3-0 W vs Pyrenees
Their perfect record blemished by a loss to today’s opponent, Benelux still had a dominant tournament run, including a blowout of Canada to kick off the games, and a clean sheet against Pyrenees to clinch their finals appearance.
The game opened up with a series of strong attacks by West Africa, but it would be Benelux’s counterattack nearly opening up the scoring in the 7th minute before VAR would prove conclusively that the goal was offside. Unshaken by the ruling, Benelux would keep up the attack, and in the 11th minute a free kick cross by Furious Chicken would find Aart de Trella inside the box at the far post to head in the game’s opening (standing) goal.
Nearing a quarter of the way through the game, Benelux was again on the attack, when a poor clearance gave the ball to Furious Chicken. Working the ball in on his own, Chicken dribbled nearly to the goal line before finding a low crossing pass to Edwin Van Der Sloth, who tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.
Not to be outdone, West Africa came roaring back in the 29th after a free kick opportunity just outside the box. Steve Urkel put his veteran talent to use, finding Momo Adamu in traffic, who deflected the ball to Sami Zerhouni for the goal. VAR would review, but confirm the goal.
The rest of the half would play out pretty quietly, with a few wide shots for both sides. Where the difference really showed was Benelux’s ability to play effective pressing defense, interrupting many chances before the play could ever develop. The few scoring opportunities on either side showed how close the game was, with most of Benelux’s 1.55-0.84 xG lead coming from the 2nd goal on what was basically an open net.
With the substitutions in, the second half kicked off with a brief West Africa attack out of the left corner, and a near tip-in that was shut down by the Benelux goalkeeper. The engine agreed with what we saw on the stream, awarding more than half a goal in xG for West Africa to pull ahead in the “expected” margins, while still trailing in the goals that happened. West Africa would remain on attack for nearly 20 minutes, hitting the crossbar on an impressive shot in the 63rd minute.
The final third of the game picked up following the trend we’d seen all game. West Africa sustained attack, Benelux counterattack, and back to the slow, methodical West African attack. It’s a game flow that heavily favored West Africa, but Benelux goaltender Lewis Monsieur had no interest in following the expectations. Entering the 81st minute, Benelux finally got their best sustained pressure of the game, setting up shop on the right side of the field and getting great opportunities from Chicken and De Groot, but it would be West Africa on the attack yet again going into the final minutes of the game. Desparate for a goal, Dian would take the ball in and drive to the net, only to be upended by a clean slide tackle by Van Garritsen. The ensuing play would be a great display of passing, and Steve Urkel finally broke free with just seconds left in added time. He took the breakaway shot, but Monsieur once again shut down the chance, securing a hard earned Benelux upset.
Final Score:
West Africa 1
Benelux 2
Congratulations to Benelux on winning the S18 World Simulation Football Classic!
First, let’s look at West Africa’s results on their road to the final:
5-2 W vs South America
2-1 W vs Canada
4-3 W vs Benelux
1-0 W vs Oceania
4-2 W vs Central America
The African juggernaut team enters the final, perhaps unsurprisingly, with an undefeated record, including a win against final opponent Benelux. Despite the perfect record, only their opening win against South America felt truly dominant, with 3 of their 5 wins coming by just one goal.
Benelux enters as the underdog, but not without an impressive record of their own:
9-4 W vs Canada
5-3 W vs South America
3-4 L vs West Africa
5-2 W vs Alpen
3-0 W vs Pyrenees
Their perfect record blemished by a loss to today’s opponent, Benelux still had a dominant tournament run, including a blowout of Canada to kick off the games, and a clean sheet against Pyrenees to clinch their finals appearance.
The game opened up with a series of strong attacks by West Africa, but it would be Benelux’s counterattack nearly opening up the scoring in the 7th minute before VAR would prove conclusively that the goal was offside. Unshaken by the ruling, Benelux would keep up the attack, and in the 11th minute a free kick cross by Furious Chicken would find Aart de Trella inside the box at the far post to head in the game’s opening (standing) goal.
Nearing a quarter of the way through the game, Benelux was again on the attack, when a poor clearance gave the ball to Furious Chicken. Working the ball in on his own, Chicken dribbled nearly to the goal line before finding a low crossing pass to Edwin Van Der Sloth, who tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.
Not to be outdone, West Africa came roaring back in the 29th after a free kick opportunity just outside the box. Steve Urkel put his veteran talent to use, finding Momo Adamu in traffic, who deflected the ball to Sami Zerhouni for the goal. VAR would review, but confirm the goal.
The rest of the half would play out pretty quietly, with a few wide shots for both sides. Where the difference really showed was Benelux’s ability to play effective pressing defense, interrupting many chances before the play could ever develop. The few scoring opportunities on either side showed how close the game was, with most of Benelux’s 1.55-0.84 xG lead coming from the 2nd goal on what was basically an open net.
With the substitutions in, the second half kicked off with a brief West Africa attack out of the left corner, and a near tip-in that was shut down by the Benelux goalkeeper. The engine agreed with what we saw on the stream, awarding more than half a goal in xG for West Africa to pull ahead in the “expected” margins, while still trailing in the goals that happened. West Africa would remain on attack for nearly 20 minutes, hitting the crossbar on an impressive shot in the 63rd minute.
The final third of the game picked up following the trend we’d seen all game. West Africa sustained attack, Benelux counterattack, and back to the slow, methodical West African attack. It’s a game flow that heavily favored West Africa, but Benelux goaltender Lewis Monsieur had no interest in following the expectations. Entering the 81st minute, Benelux finally got their best sustained pressure of the game, setting up shop on the right side of the field and getting great opportunities from Chicken and De Groot, but it would be West Africa on the attack yet again going into the final minutes of the game. Desparate for a goal, Dian would take the ball in and drive to the net, only to be upended by a clean slide tackle by Van Garritsen. The ensuing play would be a great display of passing, and Steve Urkel finally broke free with just seconds left in added time. He took the breakaway shot, but Monsieur once again shut down the chance, securing a hard earned Benelux upset.
Final Score:
West Africa 1
Benelux 2
Congratulations to Benelux on winning the S18 World Simulation Football Classic!
