Cairokyo Legends (Part 2)

[rrf_1]

The Cairokyo Legends

This series explores the 15 players that have played more than 10 seasons with the Tokyo-Cairo organization.

The core of any team’s defense is the unit of center backs that prioritizes protecting the goal above everything else.  Tokyo S.C. made sure to take care of this need in the league’s first S1 draft by using two of their early picks to select center backs Mike Rup (19OA) and Squall Vercetti (6OA).  These two players developed into incredible defenders that anchored the Tokyo and then the Cairo City back line for 15 seasons.




Mike Rup
Brooklyn, NY – 6’5” 223 lbs
Tokyo career: 157 apps, 11 POM (7.0%), 7.24 avg rating
Cairo career: 56 apps, 2 POM (3.6%), 7.91 avg rating
Team of the season: 5x major, 1x minor

Best known for his aerial physicality, Mike Rup was an incredible center back in the early era of the SSL.  He grew up showing off 360 dunks and windmill jams on the community basketball courts of Brooklyn, but despite efforts to turn his talents into a professional career, he couldn’t stand out to NBA scouts at camps.  It was of no disfavor for Mike though, since the pressure to pursue basketball came from friends and family rather than from himself.  Instead, he chose to try professional football in the SSL, and he certainly found success over his career.

In addition to 6 team of the season selections, Rup finished his career with incredible averages in the key defensive statistics.  He was always a heading machine, averaging 13.8 headers/90 and 1.6 key headers/90 at 89.1% header success rate over the course of his major league career with Tokyo.  He helped diffuse scoring situations very well too, averaging 3.7 interceptions/90 and 11.1 clearances/90.  While his tackling was less frequent, averaging 0.9 tackles/90 and 0.3 key tackles/90, he was reasonably efficient with a 81.8% tackle success rate, and over his full career he compiled 71 key tackles.  Adding on a career pass completion rate of 96.0% and a total of 14 goals and 5 assists across all of his league matches, Rup was a rare but sneaky contributor to the offense too.

Rup's most insane season stat was a 9.66 average rating across his 14 matches in S11.  For this season, he was traded from Tokyo to Cairo City, which transferred him into the minor league.  The SSL restructured into organizations just one season later, so this term in the minors was confined to just one season, but a dominant season it was.  He finished S11 averaging a massive 3.6 key headers/90 and 16.9 clearances/90, showcasing exceptional command over his defensive territory.  This S11 performance only extended his reputation as a relentless aerial defender, which first peaked in S9 when he won 17.5 headers/90 at an impressive 93.8% efficiency.

Since his retirement, Rup is enjoying a quieter life away from the commotion; I wasn't able to contact him for an interview.  However, I did hear from center back partner Squall Vercetti, who reflected fondly on his teammate, saying: "[Rup] was really enthusiastic about the sport. [I only] talked with him once after retiring from the league, but he's cool. I hope he's doing fine."  Both on the field and in the eyes of his closest teammate, Mike Rup was a true gem for the team.


Squall Vercetti
Cornwall, Canada – 6’4” 187 lbs
Tokyo career: 187 apps, 6 POM (3.2%), 7.12 avg rating
Cairo career: 21 apps, 1 POM (4.8%), 7.23 avg rating
Team of the season: 2x major

Sharing his life through a memoir titled "Jailbird", Squall Vercetti had a rough upbringing.  After relocating to New York City at a young age, Squall lost both of his parents and turned to incessant theft to support himself.  He lived in a constant cycle of bouncing between the orphanage and the juvenile detention center.  Eventually, Squall craved a fresh start from his criminal past, and after a stint behind bars he bartered a deal with an officer to take him to the SSL office for a scouting interview.  None of his problematic history would appear in his scouting report, though, since he manipulated the league interviewer into writing a favorable but fictional review raving of his football skills.  On the report of Squall being a generational talent, Tokyo S.C. selected him with their first draft pick in S1, fully unaware of the risk they were taking with the selection.

Fortunately, despite that one last act of dishonesty in his scouting interview, Squall was serious about changing his behavior.  He moved to the Ueno district of Tokyo and committed himself to his team and to his sport.  Off the field, he befriended a blind homeless man named Narazaki, who gave comfort and counsel to Squall and eventually adopted a father-like role in his life.  He also made a habit of vigilante justice in Tokyo, hoping to compensate for his years of being on the wrong side of crime.  As far as the Rup and Vercetti partnership, Squall admitted to finding his center back partner a bit over-eager for attention and friendship at first.  Over time though, the two formed a duo whose personalities complemented each other well.  To quote a "Jailbird" entry, Squall writes that the center backs "did make for a fun pairing: both were unreasonably tall, and while Rup was portly and had a far better background, Vercetti was the streetwise of the two, lanky but aware".

Squall's career was less decorated than Rup's, but in many ways the two were similar players in terms of their talents and tendencies.  Like Rup, Squall was active in heading the ball, averaging 12.0 headers/90 and 1.4 key headers/90 at 87.2% heading success rate during his career with Tokyo.  He also averaged 3.1 interceptions/90 and 9.1 clearances/90, frequently disrupting the opponent's offense when they got close to the goal.  At 0.9 tackles/90 and 0.2 key tackles/90 at 81.2% tackle success rate, he was a selective and discerning tackler like Rup, too.   Squall's totals of 15 goals, 7 assists, and 95.2% passing completion rate reflect a similarly rare but reliable offensive role as well.  The center backs were a great fit together, both approaching the game with a similar mindset and tenacity.

The most impressive highlight for Squall was his career high 94.7% header success rate in S1, which led the league that season.  Across 10 matches, he lost only 6 out of his 114 attempted headers, which is an incredible feat of athleticism and toughness.  This accomplishment was cited as a primary motivator for his team of the season selection in S1.

Now retired from the SSL for 9 seasons, Vercetti has remained pretty active.  I caught up with Squall in a brief interview, and he shared that his football career actually didn't end with his SSL retirement.  He continued to play for teams all across southeast Asia, from Vietnam and Malaysia to Macau and Hong Kong.  Unfortunately, his football days were abruptly ended when he was arrested in Singapore for kicking someone in the jaw following an argument.  He decided to channel that energy into a short MMA career, where he went undefeated.  Now, Squall lives in Kawasaki with his wife and two young children and finances a local Joshi women's wrestling program.  It's a simple life, but a fulfilling one.  When looking back on his time in the SSL, Vercetti knows he was "a rough guy with visible problems", but he hopes that he is remembered by the league as someone "that was slowly remolding himself to his environment".  Squall closed the interview with a genuine wish for the young stars in the league to find success, simply saying "Good luck out there, eh?"  Just as thoughtful as Narazaki, Squall Vercetti has grown into a role model for the league’s next legends.

[Metafiction]

Squall Vercetti’s career tasks were ultimately what inspired my write-ups for Jude Greer. I like to think he and Rup served as mentors for Jude when he was starting out, helping him refine the defensive side of his game to supplement his natural attacking verve. It’s entirely possible that Jude wouldn’t have done nearly as well as he did in the SSL if not for their influence in those early days.

[sköldpaddor]

Ahhhh this is bringing back memories