Giant Zucchini Premier League Season 2

Overview

Season 2 of the Giant Zucchini Premier League was won by Deutsch SV under strong pressure from the tactically strong Sino FC.

Sino manager Tay Liang Kee had left a legacy in Sino after a highly successful second season, and his last season in management. However, Tay could retire knowing that he had left his mark on Giant Zucchini football, flipping the odds and leaving Sino in the title chase throughout the duration of the season, never dropping below an NSFA Cup spot, as well as securing the club’s first trophy, the inaugural GZFA Cup. His transfer coups proved to be effective, Benito Baggio grabbing the Defender of the Season accolade ahead of teammate Edwin Hasselbaink. Meanwhile, the local talents had proven themselves worthy as well, Chua Peng Long in particular excelling himself in the middle of the park.

On the other hand, despite depending single-handedly on one Johann Rilke, you could not say Deutsch did not deserve their title. Georg Klinsmann’s tactical awareness and application of their direct and quick attacking strategy meant that Deutsch made full use of their talisman as well as the players around him. Furthermore, they had made their home ground a fortress, going unbeaten at home and only drawing Anglo FC in the middle of the season. Meanwhile, Carl Hohenzollern, last season’s Golden Boot winner, had served as the perfect complement to the season’s rising star.

Gallo FC had an unlikely end to what was one of the worst starts to a season ever. At the halfway point, Gallo were rock bottom with only 3 points in 7 games coming from 3 draws. However, they went through the whole second half of the season unbeaten, scoring 15 goals and conceding only 5 in the process. Yet again, neither goalkeeper had let in more than 10 goals in the 7 games each they played, proving after 2 seasons that defensively Gallo are one of the hardest teams to penetrate. Up front, Armand Boyer’s scoring form coincided with Gallo’s second half revival, Boyer scoring 5 goals in the last 7 matches.

Nordic IF surprised us all by going the first half of the season unbeaten, going top in the process at the back of 4 consecutive wins. However, those 4 wins would prove to be the only wins they would have throughout the season, as they collapsed the second half, losing 4 on the bounce before struggling to get 2 draws against Iberia CF and AC Romanic. Nevertheless, they would be happy with this season, as they were nowhere near flirting with relegation as expected. Jami Waldner had another excellent season, and rumours were abound that he would take over the retiring Kimi Adolf as a player/coach for Season 3.

Anglo's decent domestic season had been overshadowed by their amazing run in the NSFA Cup, making it all the way to the first knockout stages. Meanwhile, they went through an 8 match unbeaten run in all competitions, as well as making it 7 unbeaten in the league. Not bad for a team still in the rebuilding phase. Meanwhile, Wayne Carragher might have set a record in the season, scoring in all but 2 league games, as well as scoring in 9 consecutive league games. Meanwhile, Francis Fisher had pledged his future to Anglo after scoring 9 goals in the last 6 matches of the season, choosing to extend his career for another season.

After an amazing previous season, Antonio di Zoff could not maintain Romanic’s successful momentum, probably due to Tommaso Braschi’s retirement. Luciano Condulmer was nowhere near as good as his predecessor, and Xie Siak Kee’s age was starting to show as the season progressed. Overall, their only bright spark was Dino Nuvolari, who ripped many a defence apart. However, even he was unable to stop a rut that stretched 5 matches without a win and included 3 losses, before finally regaining some semblance of form near the end of the season. However, even that little run could not hide the disappointment of this season.

A change of coach did nothing much to turn around Iberia's results. After what was a promising start to Emilio Antonio Lozada’s career, with the team starting to gel under him, Iberia then suffered a 5-0 thrashing by Anglo FC. It was a blow they never recovered from, drawing the next match against Nordic and then ending the season with 2 losses to Romanic and Gallo. However, they did have some good form in the GZFA Cup, dispatching favourites Anglo 2-0 and Gallo 4-1. However, after losing the final 4-0 to Sino, it was only a matter of time before another coach took over for Season 3.

One of the real shocks of the season was the fall from grace of FC Spartak Vostochno. Slated to be easily challenging for the title, Spartak’s awful form even cost them their favourite manager Dovid Yekhanurov. The bigger surprise? His successor, Lev Andropov, did not fare much better in the hotseat. Despite Benno Rimsky-Korsakov’s dominance in the scoring charts, the leaky defence was letting in unnecessary goals at the other end despite the best efforts of Under-21 international goalkeeper Askar Kostrikov. They may have redeemed themselves in the Promotion/Relegation playoffs against FC van Frankenland, but they there was still work to be done before Season 3.

Final League Table

P = Games Played; W = Games Won; D = Games Drawn; L = Games Lost; F = Goals For; A = Goals Against; Pts = Points

Top Goal Scorers

Awards

Golden Boot Award: Johann Rilke (Deutsch SV)
Golden Ball Award: Wayne Carragher (Anglo FC)
Young Player Award: Johann Rilke (Deutsch SV)
Manager of the Season: Tay Liang Kee (Sino FC)
Goalkeeper of the Season: François Wenger (Gallo FC)
Defender of the Season: Benito Baggio (Sino FC)
Midfielder of the Season: Chua Peng Long (Sino FC)
Striker of the Season: Johann Rilke (Deutsch SV)