9:57 amBy Johann Gerber
With 10 minutes to go and the scores tied, the ball gets passed in midfield. The team’s passing play has been brilliant all night and has found a number of holes in the opposition’s defense.
Again the ball gets played up the wing, the fourth official indicates 2 minutes of stoppage time, the crowd is rising to their feet, sensing that the time has come. A pint-point cross into the box finds the striker. His hips move left, but the shot goes right – Score! They win with a stoppage time strike!
In two paragraphs this is what 20 of South Africa’s soccer enthusiasts endured the month of February. It was the month of the first ever EA Sports FIFA SA Premier League on Xbox Live.
Live provided the perfect platform for the players to get together and play, what can only be described as the greatest FIFA game ever, if not the greatest soccer game. Making use of the game’s in-built league creator, managers could select their respective teams and challenge the other teams for their respective matches.
Liverpool, managed by league organiser, Johann ‘Dareno’ Gerber, took an early lead to the season. However, this was short-lived as Brett’s aka ‘PW7H3ad’ Bayern Munich gained momentum.
Bayern rushed to nine straight victories with little effort. After about 14 days of fierce competition and with Liverpool still unbeaten after 6 games, it was time for the showdown.
In a fiercely contested battle, Bayern walked off proud winners – 1-0. However, Bayern’s season came agonizing close to having the perfect season, only losing a single match and drawing three. Congratulations to those teams causing the upset.
The last week of the tournament had the front runners in trouble. Milni, manager of Barcelona, launched a major title challenge. Beating Liverpool and Lyon, but suffering the dreaded disconnect. This meant that the team could only finish 2nd and after some serious battles managed to finish tied for 2nd with Liverpool and Lyon 4th.
Milni showing good sportsmanship decided that he would settle for 3rd, stating “If Liverpool’s game with Manchester United happened, they should’ve won and Liverpool would’ve had a clear second.”
So the battle for the championship came to an end, but with new friendships made and some exciting gameplay. Look out for season two, commencing April 1, 2008. Entries for the second season are open and some managers will surely be looking to avenge previous results. Congratulations to all managers committing to the league and to EA Sports for sponsoring such an awesome event.
