Kuala Lumpur City eSports failed to make it a memorable close of the FIFA eMFL 2022 league campaign, when we could only pick-up 2 out of a possible 12 points against much lower ranked opponents during the final day of competition on Saturday, to finish tenth in our first ever appearance in the electronic version of the game, yet doing just enough to clinch knockout stage spot which begins in the middle of June.
Up against Negeri Sembilan for the first duel of the day, Draco rebounded from the disappointment of his midweek defeat to Sabah’s Neqi in his last outing, but he could just not find the killer blow and force victory in the 3-3 tie with Nakata. Meanwhile Ismir, who halted his losing streak by salvaging a point against the Rhinos, once again fell by the wayside, finding himself eclipsed by FaeezN9 in yet another single goal defeat. It was his eighth reverse by a single goal margin in his nine defeats this year, a factor that has certainly put paid to the Red And Whites chances to finish higher up the table.
The final team match-up in this mentally bruising competition saw us going head to head with Kedah, and we got off in the worst way possible. Draco, who never failed to win at least a match on days that involve two separate opponents was found wanting and conceded his proud record with a 2-1 loss to Afiqqq. Ismir still searching for his first win since a 3-2 victory against Police’s Lee on Match Day 6, toughened up just as he did during the draw with Sabah a few days back, and fought hard to avoid defeat, holding Daniallito to a share of the spoils with a 3-3 result that gave the eCity Boys our 50th point in the league and help secure our one step below midtable rank, bettering Sarawak Utd. on goal difference despite being level on points.
The final analysis saw Draco and Ismir combine to earn us a knockout stage appearance as a Top 12 team with 15 wins, 5 draw and 14 defeats, from their controllers while being led by head coach, the legendary Amtuah. On an individual basis, Draco contributed the bulk of the 15 victories, 9 against Ismir’s 6, while the 14 losses were mostly attributed to Ismir with 9 defeats against Draco’s 5. More importantly, 11 of those 14 reverses was through a single goal margin, and AmTuah will have his work cut out to stop these leakages from occurring in the next stage of the contest.
May our eCity Boys exponents Faid “Draco” Said and Iskandar “Ismir” Mirza, enjoy another break, shorter than the previous, before we head into the knockout stage fully recharged with renewed enthusiasm and believe to progress far beyond driven.
Kuala Lumpur City eSports is a partnership between Kuala Lumpur City FC with Team Haq, for the FIFA eMFL 2022, a professional electronic sports (eSports) league organised by the Malaysian Football League (MFL), and Gamesbond Sdn. Bhd.
The FIFA eMFL 2022 features the FIFA 22 Playstation 5 console game and it is now into its second year, involving the participation of 18 clubs that compete in MFL’s Super League and Premier League traditional football competitions. It will run for approximately 3 months from April 19 to 26 June 2022, offering a cash prize pool of RM50,000 to the winners.