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How the pro players will set their teams up to win the FIFA eWorld Cup
FIFA commentators Richard Buckley and Brandon Smith tell us what to look out for at the FIFA eWorld Cup Final.
20 million players competed in FUT Champions this year, but only 32 competitors made it through to the FIFA eWorld Cup, which takes place at London’s 02 Arena on 2-4 August. That means a hell of a lot of FIFA fans will be watching the pro players compete with interest in what commentator Brandon Smith reckons is going to be the most competitive tournament ever.
“This year is on a different level completely,” he told us. “Every single one of the four groups is stacked with unbelievable talent. There are 19 nationalities spread across the 32, so it’s really set up to be an exciting tournament.”
World champion Gorilla will be looking to defend his title but he’ll face competition from former FIWC winner Hashtag Agge, last year’s beaten finalist Deto as well as many newcomers, including England’s Crafty, and Web from Japan. Indeed, only eight players who competed at last year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup are back in London this year, which, according to Richard Buckley, Brandon’s partner in the commentary box, “shows that there’s a new wave of talent coming through.”
So, what are these players doing that’s so special? We asked Brandon and Richard to tell us what tactics, formations and FUT teams you’ll spot at the 02 this weekend.
Richard (left) and Brandon (right) commentating at a FIFA tournament
© Digital Sports MGMT
Expect attacking football, especially in the group stages
Gorilla won the FIFA Interactive World Cup last year with an incredible display of attacking football, so can we expect the players looking to take his crown to follow his lead? Over to Brandon…
“For me, it all comes down to the player. If it’s Liverpool V Man City in the Premier League – two attacking teams – you’re likely to see goals. Likewise, if it’s Gorilla against MsDossary – you’re probably going to get a 7-6 or a 7-5. However, If you put two defensive players against each other, you’re probably going to see a 2-1, a 3-2 – a more tactical game.” The message is, then, to expect goals… Especially early on.
“The general theme this year has been really high scoring games in the group stages,” continues Brandon. “Then, as the tournament goes on, it gets a lot tighter as the money and the pressure goes up. Maybe a few nerves come into it – people don’t start playing as comfortably as they normally do. The people who can keep that at bay and play the same way throughout the tournament are usually the ones who have success.”
Ronaldo is a 5-star skill player
© EA Sports
Who will be in the pro FIFA Ultimate Teams?
There’s no need to scout overpowered bargains when you’re playing at this level. The pro players can play whoever they please at the FIFA eWorld Cup, so don’t expect to see many outliers.
Having said that, some of the more recent World Cup items could shake things up a bit. As Richard points out, “EA have released lots of really top level event-worthy items over the World Cup. We’ve got a 99-rated Hazard coming into the game through the festival of football promo in FIFA, a 99 Suarez, an upgraded Antonio Valencia from his Team Of The Year card. I think we’re going to see a little bit of diversity in the grand final.”
On the whole, the pro players will play it safe. “You’ll always see R9 Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, De Gea in goal,” says Brandon. “Everyone has the same sort of teams – you’re looking at Vieira in the middle, Ruud Gullit. You might see one or two differences, but when you come to these events you can use anyone so it doesn’t matter. If I didn’t pick Ronaldo, for example, and Richard did, I would be at a disadvantage on paper."
Richard and Brandon have commentated on 20 FIFA events this year
© Digital Sports MGMT
Will it be 4-2-2-2 or 4-2-3-1?
With many of the virtual footballers in the pro XIs, how the players set their teams up becomes vitally important, and we can expect some variation here.
Brandon says: “This year we’re seeing quite a wide variety of formations. It’s usually quite narrow the way people want to play the 4-2-2-2 or similar formations to that, but this year we’re seeing that some players like to play a 3-5-2 and they get their left and right midfielders to stay back so it’s five at the back when defending, but when they’re attacking they’ve got that width.
“Throughout the year you’d notice that between events and weekend leagues people change a little bit – there was a period when the 4-4-2 was really good to use because you could use Ronaldo and Messi at right and left midfield and then you could use extra players up front like Suarez. It seems to always change, but I’m sure that going into the Grand Final there will be a set formation that everyone will be looking to use.”
Richard reckons that that formation could be the 4-2-3-1 favoured by Nicolas99, the favourite for the competition. “When the game was in the early stages people mostly played a 4-1-2-1-2, a narrow formation, with a lot of tika-taka passes in the final third to break teams down. Now, you look more towards the 4-2-3-1.
“Players have seen how Nicolas99 is playing, because he’s arguably the best player in the world right now. He’s the favourite coming into the tournament. He plays with a 4-2-3-1. Very clinical finishing – he won’t create a lot of chances but every chance that he does create, he will score. He favours slow build-up play, very cautious defending, and he rarely presses the circle button on the PS4 to lunge in – he’ll just jockey, mark the space and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. So I think a few people have tried to take a couple of things from that.
"Being able to play Ronaldo out wide, too. A lot of people play him up front but he plays him as a left attacking mid and then he plays with R9 Ronaldo up top.”
