May Updates:
We will star the end of the season review with Reginald Bottomtoucher and his club, Chivas, for a good reason. After their April's achievement by winning the CONCACAF Champions League with a dominant win of 9-4 on aggregate over 2 time defending champions Morelia, it was time for Chivas to turn their attention to the Mexican Clausura Play-offs. They started the play-offs with a win away from home 2-1 to Jaguares. In the return leg, at home, Chivas drew with Jaguares and it was enough to see them through to the Semis. In the Semi-Finals, Chivas were able to put Monterrey to the sword by trashing them 5-1 over the 2 legs. In the finals, Chivas put the final topping on the cake by showing their superiority against San Luis. This time, putting 7 goals through their opponents and claiming the Clausura Championship that they had dominated since the start of the Season. Bottomtoucher even scored a goal in the return leg for Chivas at home that put the game away from San Luis.
Reginald Bottomtoucher, with his 13 goals, 9 assists and 5 MotM performances, has helped Chivas become the most feared club in North America. After a 3 year career, Reginald Bottomtoucher has become the most prestigious of all 'The Boss' Generation of player, collecting 4 Winner's Medal; Olympic Games North American Qualifying, CONCACAF Champions League and 2 Mexican First Division Medal.
With his best season in his short career fresh in his mind, Mexican Manager gave Bottomtoucher his first ever Nation call for his first Cap. Bottomtoucher didn't disappoint by scoring the game tying goal against Japan in a friendly. Whether Reginal will make the trip with Mexico for the World Cup is still unknown.
Leicester were able to finish in a decent position of 10th in the League after, what many would say, struggling through the season and losing their, arguably, one of their best players, James Beadle, for 2 months due to injury. They were able to hold on and put up some decent results. Over the course of the season, James Beadle finished the year with 21 appearances, 3 goals, 1 assist and 1 Man of the Match performance. But all these stats and accolades came before his dreadful injury. James Beadle also, during the winter transfer window, declined to extend his contract with Leicester City. Next season will be his last season with Leicester City.
Andrew Page was an important piece of the puzzle that helped Portsmouth move up the table in the second half of the season after joining them on loan. Since joining Portsmouth, Page made 21 appearances and scored 2 goals while assisting in 6 others totaling his assists to 8 over the season with both Tottenham and Portsmouth. While in the nPower Championship, he was also able to collect 2 MotM performances. Andrew Page, though, will be eager to join his contracted team, Tottenham, next season to help them defend the 2 trophies they won during the 2013-2014 season. Spurs had won the FA Cup 2-1 vs Manchester United and beat Sporting 2-0 for the Europa League.
Manchester City will have to accept playing in the Europa League next season. The team who made it all the way through to the Champions League Final, failed to make any sort of run to help them move into the top 4 in the EPL. In the Champions League, Manchester City lost 3-1 against Barcelona who were just too good to stop. Benji and Joe Williams didn't get many chances to play this season. Benji finished the year with 9 matches under his belt while Joe Williams, who earlier in the year declined a contract extension, played only 5 games all season. The 19 year old, Joe, would love to move away from Manchester City to get more regular time on the pitch.
On another side note, Benji has been credited with a Medal for winning the European SuperCup with Manchester City, which they won earlier in 2013 as the season started.
As the season grew closer to its end, Jarl Horak upped his form by scoring 4 goals in the final month of the season. Horak has helped Benfica end the season in 2nd place by scoring 6 goals and registering 4 assists in 12 appearances in all competitions as well as getting himself 2 MotM. Benfica would have to be happy with their progress this year compared to the past 2 years. One, they finished 2nd in the league for the first time in 3 years and lost in the Europa League against the eventual winners, Tottenham Spurs, in the Quarter Finals.
Braga's Full Back, Morten Jonsson, has been the second busiest of all 'The Boss' players this season, after Reginald Bottomtoucher, who played 42 matches all season. Jonsson played a total of 40 matches with 2 of these games coming in the National Side for Denmark. Through out the year, Jonsson was able to create 5 goals, collected 5 MotM performances and collecting a total of 3 yellow cards in all competitions. In the League, they finished 3rd overall for the 3rd season running. And lets not forget coming very close to winning the Portuguese League Cup when they lost in Penalty Shots to Sporting Lisboa. In the 2013-2014, it was a very tough season for Morton though, missing a total of 7 weeks due to minor injuries. A positive for Jonsson was the fact that he was named into Denmark's Best Eleven Squad of the year. Shame they wont be going to the World Cup in Brazil though.
Racing scraped a draw against Real Madrid that guaranteed them to stay up in La Liga. As for Albert Molist Mora, estimated at $6.25m, he played a major role at Racing Santander's great form during middle of the past season. Since his lengthy injury, Racing struggled to find the form that had got them in such a good position. They were also knocking on European competition just before their number 1 player was sidelined for 5 weeks that saw Racing pick up 2 points in the final 7 matches of the year. Albert, as for his season performance, was very good if not decent. Making 26 appearances, picking up 1 MotM performance and collecting 6 yellow cards.
Sporting KC and their young star, Jose Gainza, haven't hit their last season form this year. After 14 matches played, the most out of all Eastern Conference teams, they sit in 6th place and 5 points out of 3rd place and having played 3 matches more than all team ahead of them. Jose Gainza is trying his best, scoring 1 goal and assisting 2 other in his 16 appearances this year. Season still early yet, but the team will have to pick up their form if they would want to make it into the playoffs.
Other News:
- In the EPL, Manchester United won their 4th League Title in a row and their 7th in the past 8 years. This time collecting 89 points and scoring 84 goals and seeing their beating their 2nd place opponents, Tottenham Spurs, by 6 points. Losing 3 games all season. Rooney was voted player of the year for Manchester United by scoring 20 goals, assisting 18 other ones and collecting 9 MotM.
- Starting first, Barcelona are smashing every record possible. Before winning the Champions League, their record breaking 4th in a row, and their 5th Championship in 6 years, Barcelona won La Liga with an unprecedented 100 points collected and 95 goals scored through out the year while conceding only 34 goals and losing a total of 2 games. Is their anything that can stop the Catalans?
- Staying with Barcelona, Messi won the Champions League Best Player for the 4th year running. 6 goals, 7 assists and an average rating of just under 8, cemented Messi's win. While the Golden Boot was won by Gonzalo Higuain after scoring 10 goals and registering 4 assists.
- Chivas' defense might not have been the best in the Mexican League, but they smashed the record for the Most Goals scored by a club over the span of both the Apertura and Clausura with 71 goals.
- With the World Cup only a week away from now, National Team have announced their squad that will be traveling to Samba Land. Unfortunately, none of 'The Boss' players will making the trip.
- It would have been great to see how Bottomtoucher would have done in this summer in the World Cup, but we will have to wait until the next major International Tournament takes place to see how Reginald will fare against the big players. A European move will certainly help in his development. Yet, the trio of Bottomtoucher, Fierro and Torres at Chivas have lit the tournaments on fire with their great cohesion that has been in display. Many of the Chivas fans hope that these three players can stay with the team for a long time, but one would be stupid to think that European Teams wont be knocking if Chivas could dominant next season the way Chivas have. The scary part is that Mexico has a bright future with these 3 players, with both Reginald and Fierro aged 19 and Torres aged 21, they will certainly help Mexico move forward with their attack minded style of play. These 3 players alone have score 71 goals and created 40 goals in the 2013-2014 season for Chivas.
Player Attributes & Stats as of June 1st 2014
Note: Jose Gainza Stats are from the 2013 season.
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