It’s rivalry week in the eCPL Home To Play series!
In Friday’s weekly matchup, CPL clubs — represented by a pro soccer player and a competitive gamer each — will take on their foes in FIFA 20 matches in a bid to join Atlético Ottawa in April 24’s grand finale for the ultimate crown.
In case you missed it, last week saw the CPL’s newcomers, led by footballer Malyk Hamilton and gamer Agitpower, triumph over HFX Wanderers FC in the final to claim the spoils for Week 1.
This week, the other seven clubs are hoping for better fortune. After running into a red-hot Christian Oxner last Friday, both Marco Bustos (Pacific FC) and Erik Zetterberg (FC Edmonton) have been prompted to shake things up for Week 2.
Although they’re two of only four players in the tournament to have actually been in a FIFA game (Bustos had a rating of 60 in FIFA 18, and Zetterberg was rated 54 in FIFA 17), neither managed to translate that success.
“The Ox was a little bit too much for me, but it was fun,” Zetterberg told CanPL.ca, recounting his 7-1 semifinal loss to Oxner. “After that game I have to change something, right? What it’s gonna be I don’t know yet, I have to talk to my partner about it, but something is definitely changing though.”
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Bustos, who looked poised to sail past HFX in the first round after scoring a jaw-dropping free kick with Lionel Messi, has identified what went wrong on his end.
“I don’t think I’ll be using Argentina again, the defenders are way too slow in the game,” he revealed. “As much as I like to depend on Messi, a good team is built around a good defence. I’m gonna have to change it up, I’m looking at playing with Germany.”
Since the CPL players are restricted to playing with international teams, many of them opted to use France — favouring the speed and skill offered by Kylian Mbappé in particular.
“I don’t want to be like everyone else, so I don’t want to use France,” Bustos added.
The first round in Week 2 features some derby matches, with FC Edmonton taking on Cavalry FC and York9 FC playing Forge FC. As well, HFX Wanderers take on their closest geographical adversaries in Atlético Ottawa, while Bustos takes on his former team in Valour FC.
Bustos will go head-to-head with Valour’s Dylan Carreiro, whom he’s played in FIFA on many occasions. The former teammates have a bit of a personal rivalry going, now.
“We’re quite fifty-fifty, I beat him a lot, he beats me a lot,” Bustos said. “It’ll be a good game to say the least. And we always bug each other, which is a bit of healthy competition.”
After faltering in Week 1, Pacific will be counting on Bustos to go farther in the tournament this time around.
“I feel more pressure playing FIFA than playing in front of thousands of people in real life,” Bustos quipped.
Once again, Friday’s tournament will be a two-legged knockout bracket with all eight clubs, with CPLers playing one leg and FIFA pros playing another. It’ll be hosted again by FIFA 20 personalities ChuBoi and Mike Labelle, and it kicks off at 6 p.m. ET across the CPL’s Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook platforms.
Club Representatives:
| CLUB | CPL PLAYER | FIFA PRO |
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Christian Oxner | @TheMightyPed |
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Malyk Hamilton | @Fist_Agitpower |
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Max Ferrari | @feroze17 |
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Kwame Awuah | @GoalMachineFIFA |
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Dylan Carreiro | @Dillaphant |
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Erik Zetterberg | @SibWolf__ |
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Niko Giantsopoulos | @stopde_official |
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Marco Bustos | @Skills_Shack |
Full Week 2 Schedule:
- Game #1, at 6 p.m. ET: HFX Wanderers FC (Christian Oxner and @TheMightyPed) vs. Atlético Ottawa (Malyk Hamilton and @Fist_Agitpower)
- Game #2, at 6 p.m. ET: Cavalry FC (Niko Giantsopoulos and @stopde_official) vs. FC Edmonton (Erik Zetterberg and @SibWolf__)
- Game #3, at 7 p.m. ET: Pacific FC (Marco Bustos and @Skills_Shack) vs. Valour FC (Dylan Carreiro and @Dillaphant)
- Game #4, at 7 p.m. ET:York9 FC (Max Ferrari and @feroze17) vs. Forge FC (Kwame Awuah and @GoalMachineFIFA)
- Semifinals #1, at 8 p.m. ET: Winner of Game #1 vs. Winner of Game #2
- Semifinals #2, at 9 p.m. ET: Winner of Game #3 vs. Winner of Game #4
- Final, at 10 p.m. ET: Semifinal winner #1 vs. Semifinal winner #2