Here at Backheeled, we love a bit of accountability, and the end of the 2024 season is a great time to look back at predictions past. I offered up 10 USL predictions back in January, but how did they turn out? Let’s find out.
John Morrissey
The prediction: Trevor Amann wins the Golden Boot
The result: Incorrect, but the guy would’ve been in the March & April Best XI
Hey, I wasn’t so far off on this one. Seven games into the season, Trevor Amann, just having made the jump from the Northern Colorado Hailstorm in USL League One, had five goals for an undefeated Sacramento team and looked like the favorite to win the Golden Boot. So far, so good.
The striker would only score four more goals after that point, eventually splitting starting minutes with Kieran Phillips and Juan Sebastian Herrera. Still, finishing with nine goals after making a jump up the pyramid is no mean feat, and Amann’s slowdown owed to external factors more than anything else.
Sacramento lost Rodrigo Lopez and Russell Cicerone, their two best creators and complements to Amann, for large chunks of 2024. The team in general underperformed expectations, leading to Mark Briggs’ dismissal. Even so, Amann’s contract has been renewed, and he’ll get another crack at the Golden Boot in 2025.
