I started this blog a year ago thinking it would be a fun thing to do during the season with a little light reflection during the summer. Instead the entire world turned upside down and I found myself trying to make meaning from press releases in March and bubble tournaments in August.

Here’s how things shook out in 2020 among our favorite 11 sides on the planet.

Final Standings

As was becoming apparent by the middle of the summer, the longer Rosenborg’s women went undefeated, the more likely they were to win our trophy. In the end, Rosenborg’s Men struggled to finish off the season gave Minnesota United a closer chance than you might have expected in November.

Emelec wins my money this year for the best showing of a team whose jersey I didn’t own going in (but I’m seriously mulling doing something for Grenoble to shore up my fandom bonafide as they fight for *knock on wood* Ligue 1 promotion)

SC Frieburg’s struggles saw them slip to the middle of the table just above Punjab FC which has been idle for months now, and the Lady Griz must be licking their chops to finish above Asamoah Gyan and company in 2021.

Players of the Year

Rather than choose 1 best of best, given that my entire theme this year was coming together and relying on others, it only made sense to award a full team.

Up top, it should be no surprise that we chose the two most imperious scorers in our year especially given Marit Clausen’s sizzling summer and Farcundo Barcelo’s amazing autumn.

The midfield was trickier. There was no shortage of good candidates, but in the end we couldn’t ignore the excellent run of young Julie Blakstad, the superb creativity of Emanuel Reynoso, or the consistency of Vincenzo Grifo. Kristoffer Zachariassen claimed the last spot due to his goal scoring prowess and excellent control for a Europa League bound side.

We probably could have done more to recognize defenders during the season, but as center back was our own position of choice on the rough and tumble pitches of Great Falls, Montana we were proud to recognize the Grenoble tandem of Jerome Mombris and Jordy Gaspar. On top of that Dominique Heintz seemed to always be the answer to the question “how did Freiburg stop fill in the blank Bundesliga striker king from scoring?” And Alex Iacovitti provided the most iconic image of the most iconic win of the year with his delirious wheeling joy after sealing the win over Celtic.

There was no shortage of great candidates in goal either. We went with Vozdovac’s Miloje Prekovic whose arrival coincided with an excellent unbeaten run for the Red Dragons.

Our bench has two players we really struggled over putting in the top XI: Grenoble’s Jessy Benet and Minnesota’s Michael Boxall, but we know they’ll be ready to step up for a sixty or a six minute shift. We also got a chance to recognize all the other teams in our list: strikers Asier Dipanda, Luisa Espinoza, and Franco Arizala represent Punjab, Las Electricas de Emelec and Alebrijes de Oaxaca respectively. Klara Buhl will be the one we ask to fill in all over the field (the least she can do after leaving Freiburg for Munich). And Fatua Duda holds down the Legon Cities spot in the squad (the Royals may be bottom of our table, but Duda is the unquestioned leader and has kept scores low while the offense sputters).

We were sorry not to find a representative for the Grenoble women’s side (we’d love if the social media squads from Rosenborg and Emelec could show them how its done), and we hope to include more than a few Grizzlies when they finally get back on the pitch this spring.

What’s Next

I really like soccer. Like, a lot a lot.

I really like writing. Like, a lot a lot

Doing this project for a year reminded me how much I like both, and also how impossible it is to do both, and parent, and teach, and write what is burning a fire in my brain.

So here’s the plan Stans: I’m keeping this site alive. The annual fee is a small price to pay for keeping track of all the lectures you’re going to get in your life. I won’t post in it as often. (One weekly update, One monthly video with all three of us (barring tantrums), and one monthly commentary).

I’m going to work on writing other things I’m fired up about. But rest assured, I’ll always love sharing lessons with you boys and I’ll love sharing them over soccer matches too.

(Oh, and if this is being read by someone other than my sons, feel free to write a note below so they know other people are judging their dad too).