Snapshots

A different take on my seasonal assessments: they are useful to put on paper those “background feelings” that are obvious now, but can be forgotten in the future (e.g. I remember I was hopeful to win the 2nd cycle—but when, exactly, did this happen?).

For this reason (if I remember to do it…) starting from the 2020/21 season I’ll also answer the following questions, which try to capture my seasonal experience:

• Player of mine I thought about the most (and how his season went)
• Club that represented my squad the most (and how their season went)
• Fiercest rival scout
• Banters of the season

An artificial intelligence praises the game

[I gave ShortlyAI the title “Why Fantasy Scout is the best game ever” and the following description for a post it should write: “This essay explains why Fantasy Scout is the best game ever. Fantasy Scout is a game where you pick young soccer players. If the players you pick get more than 10 caps, you get points. Otherwise, you lose points. So who pick the most successful players wins.” This is the post the AI wrote (best of two attempts).]

During the summer, soccer fans eagerly await the new season. All around the world people are buying tickets and tuning in to watch their favorite team battle it out on the field. But here’s a way you can get involved even if you’re miles away from any stadium: Fantasy Scout!

This essay explains why Fantasy Scout is indeed the best game ever. How does it work? Well, you pick young soccer players every year on your own fantasy team who have a good chance of getting more than 10 caps (international matches). You can pick from all leagues, like the English Premier League, the Spanish Primera Division, and of course the World Cup.

This year I picked eight players out of a possible 16: S. Aluko (England), T. Malouda (France), H. Jónsson (Iceland), S. Agbonlahor (England), P. Pogrebnyak (Russia), Z. Ibrahimovic (Sweden) and A. Johnson (USA).

These eight players are young stars that have a good chance getting more than 10 caps this year. If they do, I will get points. If they don’t, I will lose points.

So why is Fantasy Scout the best game ever? Because it’s so unpredictable! For example, this year both France and England have a lot of players under 22. So even if you pick somebody like H. Jónsson who only plays for a small club like IBV in Iceland, you have a good chance to win the game this year!

Of course, picking the right players isn’t easy. So it helps to know who to pick and who not to pick if you want to win contest prizes or just become better at the game. This is where knowing a lot about soccer comes in. Luckily, I do know a lot about soccer!

I know that S. Aluko of Chelsea has already been capped once for his national team, the England U-21 squad. But he will probably get more caps this summer. And with the English national team, young players are expected to get lots of playing time now that they no longer have stars like Lampard and Beckham in the squad!

Since this is my first year playing Fantasy Scout, I decided to pick a lot of players from England because they have so many players under 22. Agbonlahor of Aston Villa looks like he’ll get a lot of playing time, so I picked him. He plays the forward position, so he will score goals and hopefully also get more than 10 caps for his national squad.

Pogrebnyak from Zenit Saint Petersburg has already been capped for his national team Russia (the country). It will be interesting to see if he gets more than 10 caps this year as well. He plays the forward position, like Agbonlahor, but on a different team.

Ibrahimovic from Ajax Amsterdam is another forward who I picked. A lot of forward players get more than 10 caps for their national squads, so I like to pick them. Note that not every forward player gets more than 10 caps. For example, F. Torres from Chelsea has already been capped for Spain (the country) in the 2006 World Cup, but will probably only get 5 caps this year because other players on his team are also under 22 and capable of getting more than 10 caps.

A quick note about forwards: Because they are in charge of scoring goals, it is important to pick the right forwards. Obviously, picking a good team like Arsenal with many forwards works well. But it’s also important to pick the right forwards on that team! For example, if you picked P. Crouch of Aston Villa as one of your forwards, he wouldn’t get many goals and would probably get sent off. Not a good choice!

Also keep in mind that not every forward is created equally. For example, Ibrahimovic has already been capped and plays for a big club like Ajax Amsterdam, so he has the best chance of getting more than 10 caps this year out of all the players I picked.

Agbonlahor plays on an average English team like Aston Villa and hasn’t been capped yet for England yet (so far).

An artificial intelligence writes the rules

I asked an artificial intelligence (ShortlyAI, powered by GPT-3) to continue the rules of the current picking cycle. Here is the result:

4. Unlimited transfers

You can freely transfer players, both in and out of your squad, at any moment before the end of the picking cycle.

5. Roster requirement

Your squad must always have:

a. 15 players that you have picked (i.e., the only players that score points) and who play for eligible national teams and who have played fewer than 1 A international match, or 9 if you have picked more than 12 players from Brazil, Argentina, Italy or Germany;

b. 24 other players (i.e., not those that score points) or 23 if you have picked more than 12 players from Brazil, Argentina, Italy or Germany;

c. a total of 29 players (i.e., the sum of the number of players that will play matches plus the number of substitutes);

d. exactly 1 goalkeeper plus 3 field players (in case you have more than 3 goalkeepers in your squad and/or fewer than 3 field players).

6. Squad rule

Your squad is the list of players you have picked for your team (i.e., the only players that score points) and that you have not yet transferred out of your team (i.e., they are still in your team although not in your squad). As long as a player is in your squad, he will always score points, even if you transfer him out of it later (after you’ve picked him).

7. Inactivity

If 1 month after the start of the picking cycle there are less than 12 scouts in the previous cycle ranking, all the following will be considered as FAILED picks:

a. any picks that you would have made but that you haven’t made (i.e., any players that you would have picked but that no other scout has picked yet);

b. all transfers to or from your team until 1 month after the start of the picking cycle;

c. all the players that you haven’t picked yet because they would have been free-to-pick in this picking cycle.

This rule may change during the picking cycle for any number of scouts in case there are less than N (see point 2) active scouts in the previous cycle ranking. If it does, we will communicate it clearly on our website.

8. Prize

The prize for the overall winner will always be a 50% discount (up to $20) on all video lessons for one year. In addition:

a. For the winner of each of the two smaller regions (i.e., South America and Europe), we will give 10% discounts on all video lessons for one year (up to $20 each);

b. For the winners of each national team (after you have picked them), we will give 5% discounts on all video lessons for one year (up to $20 each).

9. Please see further details in the next section.

10. If there is a tie in any of the scores, the order of priority will be:

a. first, by that score;

b. then, by the FIFA World Ranking of the country where the player plays (according to scout reports);

c. then, by when you picked him;

d. then, randomly if still tied.

11. The results will be updated here on this blog, on our website and on the Reddit Soccer Scouting Subreddit.

12. The picking cycle is always for one calendar year (i.e., from January 1 to December 31 of the year after that).

13. The default language of the competition is English. However, all participants are also free to communicate in their own language (but must say so clearly in their signature when they register).

14. You can join the competition at any time before the end of the picking cycle (i.e., until December 31st of the year after that) and you will retain all the players that you have picked.

15. We will also announce the winner at our website and on Reddit Soccer Scouting subreddit shortly after each calendar year ends.

16. Bonus rule: If you are a user from http://www.reddit.com/r/soccerscouting, you’ll get an additional 3 points for each player picked (one for the first 24 picks and one more for the next 36 picks).

17. No transfers or free-to-pick players can be added to your squad after the end of the picking cycle. However, you may transfer out of your squad any player that has been transferred into your squad after that date (if you do so before the end of picking cycle).

18. If you are interested in learning more about the theory behind this competition, please see my book The Complete Soccer Goalkeeper .

19. In order to be eligible for a prize, you need to be a registered user of soccerway.com and/or reddit soccer scouting community (no exceptions).

20. We reserve the right to change any rules at any time at our sole discretion (including modifying rules or merging regions).

21. Please send your questions to us at soccergoalkeepingacademy(at)gmail(dot)com.

22. Register by clicking here: http://goo.gl/forms/xzJFcDM1yR

23. See you on the pitch!