S1 Awards Announcement

[Canadice]

S1 Awards

The second season of the SSL is upon us but there is still something missing from the inaugural season, the individual Awards! Without a current Award Committee, Members of the BoD and S1 Managers sent in ballots for the Most Valuable Player (MVP), the Manager of the Season, and the SSL Team of the Season. The Team of the Season was formed in a 4-4-2 formation which meant that two forwards, two wingers (ML, AML, MR, AMR), two central midfielders (AMC, MC, DMC), two widebacks (DL, DR, WBL, WBR), two centerbacks, and a goalkeeper would make the final team for the awards. While we are shooting for awards show-type streams in the future, for this season, we will find out all the results in this post, down below.

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Manager of the Season
Winner: @Will3, Cairo City Football Club

For the first award of the night, we look at the Manager of the Season award. Leading the Cairo City Football Club is WIll3. Cairo City had a great first season, where they were able to finish first place in the league this season, along with making it to the semifinals in the SSL Cup. In the League, they kept it close with Inter London throughout the season, and were able to win in the last matchday with a win against the previously-mentioned Inter London Football Club. They finished the season with a 7-2-1 record in the league, having both their losses occur against Athenai Football Club. Other managers that received votes were Canadice from Athenai (2) and Frazzle from Inter London (1). Despite losing some key pieces in expansion in the past offseason, Cairo City still looks like a strong team for the upcoming season, so we will see if Will3 can lead their team to even greater heights. This will not be the last award that we see from Cairo City this season, so we can move on to the next award.

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Team of the Season

Goalkeeper:
Winner: Pingu Nootazuki @Pingu, Tokyo Sports Club

In a close vote that came down to the final ballot, Nootazuki is able to take home the inaugural goalkeeper spot in the Team of the Season. They played on a Tokyo team that had a very slow start to the season, but in the second half of the season, were able to completely turn around the team, and get to T-4th spot in the League, and end up winning the inaugural SSL Cup. Nootazuki led the goalkeepers in a few categories, most notably in Cleansheets, recording four. Along with that they were the only goalkeeper to pick up a Player of the Match and led the league in save%. While there were some other potential competitors for the spot, Nootazuki played like the leader of the Tokyo backline, and will be relied upon next season to see if Tokyo's hot end to the season can continue to the start of Season Two.

Wideback:
Winner: Mazrim Taim @Sopath, Inter London Football Club
Winner: Deedee Yoker @Asked Madden, Athênai Football Club

To start off the defense, we have the widebacks. The best two were chosen from the pool of wingbacks and fullbacks alltogether, not looking at which side of the field they played on. Starting off with Mazrim Taim of Inter London, this left back was one of the most influential players of the London backline, and was very instrumental on the offense along with the defense. Taim was able to lead widebacks in Chances Created (7) and Assists (3), helping out there on the offensive end, while also having the best Tackling Percentage (92%) to showcase his two way play. Deedee Yoker, another left back, was a similar player to Taim, except focusing a little more of the offensive end of the field. He led the position in goal contributions (4), but what may be his most impressive accomplishment is his three man of the match awards, which showcased his talents as one of the top threats in the league.

Centerback:
Winner: Sam Siege @EsAmYk, Tokyo Sports Club
Winner: Squall Vercetti @Thunfish, Tokyo Sports Club

To finish off the defense its the top center back duo in the league, both coming from Tokyo, Sam Siege & Squall Vercetti. Sam Siege did not have the luxury of the fifteen appearances that Tokyo players were able to play in this season, but when he did play, it was noticable, and despite not playing in three games, he was able to be part of the center back trio in Tokyo and ignite their late push forward in the season with a 5 in the back system. Siege did not lead in too many statistical categories, but instead provided a consistent performance, landing him the best average rating out of all defenders (7.42). Along with that, Siege was able to get forward a lot during the games, and led all centerbacks in shot attempts and shots on target. The other side of the this pairing is Squall Vercetti. Vercetti was all over the place, leading in Key Passes, Chances Created, and Header%, while also picking up 3 Man of the Match awards.

Winger:
Winner: K Clamence @captjanko, Inter London Football Club
Winner: Benji Atreides @BenjiDune, Hollywood Football Club

Looking at the wingers, one thing in similar between both winners is their offensive prowess. Clamence was able to add nine goal contributions while Benji Atreides was able to add thirteen of them. Something else that Atreides was able to do was lead in key passes and chances created, both very important stats for offensively focused wingers to need. Clamence had some strong stats all around, but the strongest had to be his expected Goals (5.24) which easily led all wingers, and he was able to do this without attempting any penalties to boost up that expected goals. Both players also led all wingers in average rating and had two man of the matches apiece which made giving them each one of the spots in the team, very easy.

Center Midfielder:
Winner: Davy Mac @WildfireMicro, Cairo City Football Club
Winner: Nevin Kisbet @ConnorM123, Inter London Football Club

Center Midfielders introduces a new team's player to the mix, with Davy Mac from Cairo City included in the team, alongside Inter London's Nevin Kisbet. Center Midfielder had the most players out of every position because of the inclusion of all defensive, attacking, and central midfielders all into these two spots. Out of those three, Nevin Kisbet clearly fell under the offensive side of all the midfielders. With a 4.27 Expected Goals, which easily led all central midfielders, and then big leads in chances created, and key passes, it is not a surprise that Kisbet was able to knock down that many votes. Davy Mac on the other hand, leaned on both sides of the ball, and led the central midfielders in header% and tackling%, and on the offensive end of the ball led central midfielders in goals and assists, and was able to do this all in only 11 appearances, due to starting the season off late.

Striker:
Winner: Franco Torres @r1c3bowl22, Cairo City Football Club
Winner: Jack O'Connor @Hordle, Inter London Football Club

The only unanimous selections of the team came in the striker spot for both Franco Torres and Jack O' Connor. The two fought neck to neck in the golden boot race, and ended up both finishing with fifteen goals apiece, with Torres also picking up one assist. Jack O' Connor led in expected goals and average rating, while Franco Torres led all over the place. In defensive categories, like interceptions, while also leading in categories like header%, pass%, and key passes. Both were dominant forces for their respective teams, and it is no surprise that we see them at the top coinciding with their teams also finishing at the top.

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Golden Boot
Winner: Franco Torres @r1c3bowl22, Cairo City Football Club - 15 Goals
Winner: Jack O'Connor @Hordle, Inter London Football Club - 15 goals

Just went over them, but Franco Torres and Jack O'Connor tie for the golden boot, each adding in 15 goals apiece. It was a very fun award to keep track off throughout the season to see who would end up the winner, and it only seems fitting for them to end up tieing for the award at the end of the season. The battle between these two, along with the other strikers coming up in the league will be something fun to keep track off for the future seasons.

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Most Valuable Player
Winner: Franco Torres @r1c3bowl22, Cairo City Football Club

We have already seen his name twice before this, with Franco Torres taking home one of the Striker Spots for the Team of the Season, along with the tied golden boot, and he is able to finish up his night with the prized inaugural Most Valuable Player Award. Other than just his 16 goal contributions, Torres was able to get involved around the field, and was very much multi-dimensional. Congrats to r1c3 for all his awards today.

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Written by @siddhus on behalf of the BoD.

[r1c3bowl22]

Ayyyy thanks for the awards. Congrats to everyone as well!

[Canadice]

The vote tallies for each award:

[Urq660]

Top job Pyramid Pals

[captjanko]

What a privilege and honor. Thank you to everyone involved in making this league as great as it is!

[RashfordU]

Fantastic Seasons to all of those winning! Congrats and excited to see how you all do in S2!

[Thunfish]

Good shit.