The FIFA Cup Review

 

It was a day of upsets, but players like Kickers.Zizou and xXenophobia will look back on the 2^nd Singapore FIFA Cup as the point in their nascent careers where they made great strides towards becoming professional gamers.

 

The Alienware Arena was buzzing with anticipation on 25 August.  3 teams were present at the second installment of Singapore’s most popular FIFA 13 tournament: Flash eSports, Kickers, and new kids on the block Team Wolfpack. Familiar free agents returned to the fore as well; Zarate made his first LAN appearance since being released from Flash, and musibots had his last competitive outing before enlistment.

 

Team Wolfpack at the 2^nd Singapore FIFA Cup

 

The Singapore FIFA Cup moved away from its traditional BO3 playoff format in favour of a new home-away playoff system, and many big names bowed out in the early stages as a result. Hibidi and musibots - the two best players of FIFA Cup 1 – exited the competition at the round of 16 on away goals to Kickers.El Pistolero and Kickers.Kim07 respectively.

 

 

musibots and hibidi both crashed out early in the day

 

It wasn’t just established Singaporean players who fell early. The 9-man strong Malaysian contingent was completely wiped out by the end of the round of 16. Reigning WCG Asia champion eMaster.Vin had his run halted on penalties at the round of 32 by Wolfpack’s xXenophobia, while former world number 4 si_jali was eliminated by El Rey in the very next round.

 

More big names exited the competition in the quarterfinals. El Pistolero and El Rey were knocked out by less established players in xXenophobia and Zizou, who made their first ever semi-finals. They were joined in the last 4 by another newcomer in John482, as well as WCG SG 2011 winner Kim07.

 

The first semi-final between xXenophobia and John482 was a straightforward one. The former secured passage to the final with little fuss, dispatching John482 in convincing fashion: 5-2 on aggregate. The other semi between Kim07 and Zizou was a far tighter affair. The Kickers youngster upstaged his team captain with a narrow 4-3 aggregate win, but fully deserved his victory after a dominating performance.

 

Kim07 exits the competition as his teammates look on

 

With everyone expecting a close final between the two youngsters, it came as a huge surprise that Zizou effectively ended the contest by the end of the first leg with a 3-0 win. xXenophobia’s need to pile forward in the second leg left him exposed at the back, and Zizou’s lightning breaks punished him in clinical fashion. The Kickers youngster secured victory with an emphatic 7-0 aggregate win, the most one-sided FIFA Cup final ever. Elsewhere, John482 took 3^rd place after beating Kim07 4-3 on aggregate.

 

Kickers.Zizou plays against xXenophobia in the final

 

xXenophobia and team Wolfpack on stage for the final

 

It was a day for the newcomers to remember, and we’ll be talking to Zizou and xXenophobia in the coming weeks to get their thoughts on how the FIFA Cup went for them.

 

The top 3: (From left) xXenophobia, Zizou and John482

 

The series takes a break for the next few months while organisers begin planning for the FIFA 14 season. Be sure to stay tuned to Rapture Gaming Network (RGN) on our official Facebook page for timely updates regarding the Singapore FIFA Cup and other FIFA events.