2025-03-29, 05:29 PM - Word count: 1226
Another season of the SSL has come and gone, and now the league can look back at the events that unfolded and reflect on what went right and what went wrong. This season was full of excitement, due to the large influx of new players thanks to the Reddit post. The size of the next draft class truly did loom over the season, at least for Catalunya and Seoul, who had lower expectations than most teams entering the year. Catalunya placed last in the Majors standings in Season 18, and still sported a young team with many holes that would once again prevent them from contending for the title, or even a mid-table finish. Seoul, while preforming much better, placing 3rd in the Minors in Season 18, had an uphill battle to climb in order to reach those heights again. Seoul would be losing veteran talent and relying on contributions from first- and second-year players. Because of these lowered expectations, the organization had lots of excitement looking forward to the draft.
The offseason looming only got larger when the expansion of the league was announced, adding 2 new organizations, meaning 2 more teams in each division. This meant we had to create a list of 11 players to protect from being taken by the expansion teams. We were also guaranteed to lose three players. Planning for the expansion draft would be a season-long endeavor, as we hammered out what our protection list would be.
With all of this looming over the season, we understood that S19 would be a developmental season for us. It was hard to see us placing outside of the bottom 2 for Catalunya, with Seoul being more of a mid-tier team in the Minors. Looking deeper at Catalunya's roster, you can understand the hill we would have to climb to make any sort of push up the standings. Catalunya is mostly carried by their wing backs, Ljubica Kamenova (S13, 1505 TPE) and Ilya Prusikin (S16, 1332 TPE). Along with Gastone Poggio (S11, CM, 1314 TPE) these two are the heartbeat of the offense, as well as being key players on defense. The main recipient of the play driving coming from Kamenova, Prusikin, and Poggio is Striker Bayley de Allie (S12, 1217 TPE). These players are surrounded by a supporting cast of younger developing players, or underachieving role players. Midfielders Joga Bonito (S18 802 TPE), Bernardo Fry (S18 788 TPE), Appolo Zervas (S18 714 TPE), and Ben Nelson (S18, 772 TPE) have potential and may be stars in the future, but right now they are out of their depth in the majors. S17 Goalie Vis Grappo was developing well, but recently retired. Center backs Pork Tenderloin (S18, 874 TPE) and Hannah Van Garritsen (S14, 927 TPE) are decent enough to fill the role, but both are inactive and needing of replacement. Hannah Van Garritsen is not built to play CB at all, but friend of the franchise Reno spent all their money to add CB as a position. As you can tell, the need for a CB is desperate.
Seoul is looking like a true youth development squad, as the opening night starting 11 was comprised entirely of S18 and S19 players. While this was exciting as we were about to hopefully see some great strides forward from our prospects, this also meant that we might have some rough games throughout the season. The highest TPE player on Seoul was S18 GK Bartholomew Twinkletoes (851 TPE), with no other player breaking 800 TPE. Seoul, much like their major affiliate, would look to their wing backs Jordan Bamford (S18 796 TPE) and Alex Stain (685 TPE) to be play drivers. Kel Varnson (S18 692 TPE) and Nikolai Ahmed (S18 703 TPE) would be the eldest players in the midfield for Seoul. The rest of the starting 11 was filled with rookies who would be getting their first taste of non-Academy soccer. Aart de Trella (733 TPE), Tre Qartista (680 TPE), Carolien Miedema (632 TPE), Kim Hueng-Min (574 TPE), Day Walker (570 TPE), and Diglett Primarus (533 TPE) would have a lot of growing to do to adapt to the higher level of play.
Preparing tactics for both squads this season was a bit tough, as we were the underdogs in most matches. Our total TPE was just too low, and we need work on build cohesion and optimization. We are also at a lack of players with the skillset to play CM, CDM, and CB, severely limiting the types of formations we can roll out. Catalunya finished 7th out of 8 in the Majors, to be expected, but it wasn't all bad. We did see some improvement from last season, winning 5 games instead of 1. Catalunya actually looked threatening at times this season, and pushed some teams harder than they expected. I'd say the teams best performances were its 3-1 victory over Tokyo in MD2, and their 4-4 Draw vs Reykjavik in the Cup. Performances like these showed the league that Catalunya could steal a game from you if you took them lightly. Bayley de Allie capped off his season with a Golden Boot, scoring 10 goals to lead the Majors, despite being on one of the weaker teams.
Seoul also somewhat exceeded expectations. While the team itself was very confident in its abilities, some players even believing they were destined to win the Cup, most of the league recognized that Seoul would have to battle to be in the hunt to win the Minors. While the team did not end up coming in first, in fact, they came in 5th, I think this season can be seen as a major win. Coming into the season with all 1st and 2nd year players is hard to do, and being a legitimate threat to win in each matchday says something about Seoul's compete level and potential. Seoul finished the season with 21 points, 1 point behind AS Paris for 4th. Seoul was the last of 5 teams that had any sort of chance to win the league, as the 6th, 7th, and 8th placed teams had 9 or less points respectively. Being in the running and not with the bottom feeders with squad full of youngsters is something to be proud of.
With the season finally wrapped up, the expansion draft will soon be taking place, and we have submitted our protection list for the draft. Joga Bonito, Aart de Trella, and literal fossil Hugh Mann (S3 652 TPE) were mandatory protections as these are the manager players. The remaining 8 slots were deliberated over all season, but in the end, we decided to protect our star wing backs Kamenova and Prusikin, and youngsters Bernardo Fry, Ben Nelson, Tre Qartista, Bartholomew Twinkletoes, Jordan Bamford, and Carolien Miedema. This notably meant we are leaving veterans de Allie and Poggio unprotected, as well as many intriguing developing players if an expansion team is going for a long haul build up. While we wait to see which 3 players we will be losing, the organization is looking ahead towards the draft, the biggest in league history. Here, Catalunya will have the opportunity to fill some holes in the organization that they desperately need to fix in order to truly rebuild into a contender once more.
The offseason looming only got larger when the expansion of the league was announced, adding 2 new organizations, meaning 2 more teams in each division. This meant we had to create a list of 11 players to protect from being taken by the expansion teams. We were also guaranteed to lose three players. Planning for the expansion draft would be a season-long endeavor, as we hammered out what our protection list would be.
With all of this looming over the season, we understood that S19 would be a developmental season for us. It was hard to see us placing outside of the bottom 2 for Catalunya, with Seoul being more of a mid-tier team in the Minors. Looking deeper at Catalunya's roster, you can understand the hill we would have to climb to make any sort of push up the standings. Catalunya is mostly carried by their wing backs, Ljubica Kamenova (S13, 1505 TPE) and Ilya Prusikin (S16, 1332 TPE). Along with Gastone Poggio (S11, CM, 1314 TPE) these two are the heartbeat of the offense, as well as being key players on defense. The main recipient of the play driving coming from Kamenova, Prusikin, and Poggio is Striker Bayley de Allie (S12, 1217 TPE). These players are surrounded by a supporting cast of younger developing players, or underachieving role players. Midfielders Joga Bonito (S18 802 TPE), Bernardo Fry (S18 788 TPE), Appolo Zervas (S18 714 TPE), and Ben Nelson (S18, 772 TPE) have potential and may be stars in the future, but right now they are out of their depth in the majors. S17 Goalie Vis Grappo was developing well, but recently retired. Center backs Pork Tenderloin (S18, 874 TPE) and Hannah Van Garritsen (S14, 927 TPE) are decent enough to fill the role, but both are inactive and needing of replacement. Hannah Van Garritsen is not built to play CB at all, but friend of the franchise Reno spent all their money to add CB as a position. As you can tell, the need for a CB is desperate.
Seoul is looking like a true youth development squad, as the opening night starting 11 was comprised entirely of S18 and S19 players. While this was exciting as we were about to hopefully see some great strides forward from our prospects, this also meant that we might have some rough games throughout the season. The highest TPE player on Seoul was S18 GK Bartholomew Twinkletoes (851 TPE), with no other player breaking 800 TPE. Seoul, much like their major affiliate, would look to their wing backs Jordan Bamford (S18 796 TPE) and Alex Stain (685 TPE) to be play drivers. Kel Varnson (S18 692 TPE) and Nikolai Ahmed (S18 703 TPE) would be the eldest players in the midfield for Seoul. The rest of the starting 11 was filled with rookies who would be getting their first taste of non-Academy soccer. Aart de Trella (733 TPE), Tre Qartista (680 TPE), Carolien Miedema (632 TPE), Kim Hueng-Min (574 TPE), Day Walker (570 TPE), and Diglett Primarus (533 TPE) would have a lot of growing to do to adapt to the higher level of play.
Preparing tactics for both squads this season was a bit tough, as we were the underdogs in most matches. Our total TPE was just too low, and we need work on build cohesion and optimization. We are also at a lack of players with the skillset to play CM, CDM, and CB, severely limiting the types of formations we can roll out. Catalunya finished 7th out of 8 in the Majors, to be expected, but it wasn't all bad. We did see some improvement from last season, winning 5 games instead of 1. Catalunya actually looked threatening at times this season, and pushed some teams harder than they expected. I'd say the teams best performances were its 3-1 victory over Tokyo in MD2, and their 4-4 Draw vs Reykjavik in the Cup. Performances like these showed the league that Catalunya could steal a game from you if you took them lightly. Bayley de Allie capped off his season with a Golden Boot, scoring 10 goals to lead the Majors, despite being on one of the weaker teams.
Seoul also somewhat exceeded expectations. While the team itself was very confident in its abilities, some players even believing they were destined to win the Cup, most of the league recognized that Seoul would have to battle to be in the hunt to win the Minors. While the team did not end up coming in first, in fact, they came in 5th, I think this season can be seen as a major win. Coming into the season with all 1st and 2nd year players is hard to do, and being a legitimate threat to win in each matchday says something about Seoul's compete level and potential. Seoul finished the season with 21 points, 1 point behind AS Paris for 4th. Seoul was the last of 5 teams that had any sort of chance to win the league, as the 6th, 7th, and 8th placed teams had 9 or less points respectively. Being in the running and not with the bottom feeders with squad full of youngsters is something to be proud of.
With the season finally wrapped up, the expansion draft will soon be taking place, and we have submitted our protection list for the draft. Joga Bonito, Aart de Trella, and literal fossil Hugh Mann (S3 652 TPE) were mandatory protections as these are the manager players. The remaining 8 slots were deliberated over all season, but in the end, we decided to protect our star wing backs Kamenova and Prusikin, and youngsters Bernardo Fry, Ben Nelson, Tre Qartista, Bartholomew Twinkletoes, Jordan Bamford, and Carolien Miedema. This notably meant we are leaving veterans de Allie and Poggio unprotected, as well as many intriguing developing players if an expansion team is going for a long haul build up. While we wait to see which 3 players we will be losing, the organization is looking ahead towards the draft, the biggest in league history. Here, Catalunya will have the opportunity to fill some holes in the organization that they desperately need to fix in order to truly rebuild into a contender once more.
