General News

FUT CHAMPIONS CUP INTERVIEW : MCFC MARCUS

25/01/2018 19:39pm

By Chappers

Australian FIFA powerhouse Marcus Gomes, who represents Australian Football Club Melbourne City, talked to us about representing a professional Football Club and donning the Melbourne colours, FUT Champions and it’s the current set-up and his breakout year in competitive FIFA.

It has been a strong start to FIFA 18 for you; how have you progressed from the fringes of the Top 100 in the early stages of FIFA 17 to finishing 82nd and 36th in the World for the first two months of FIFA 18?

– I’ve had a good start to FIFA 18 but it’s been a long grind ever since the start of FUT Champions in FIFA 17. I think one ‘reason’ for my improvement in FUT Champions has been living by the motto of ‘practice makes perfect’. I’ve played every single ‘Weekend League’ since it started in FIFA 17 and it seems like the long grind is finally paying off.

– Also, I think FIFA 18 suits my style of play a bit better compared to 17; this has been a main factor as to why I’ve had a better start in FIFA 18 compared to FIFA 17. Plus, I also played a lot of ‘FUT Draft’ at the start of FIFA 18, which allowed me access to more coins and a better squad.

By finishing in 36th place for the month of November you’ve subsequently qualified for the first FUT Champions Cup event on FIFA 18 in January, what are your hopes for the event?

– Well, my ‘ultimate goal’ for the event is to win it all. That would be an absolute dream of mine but I’m more than aware that the other 127 players have the same goal.

– I think I’ll go into the tournament with the same goal that I had for #FIWC17; get out of the group stage. Unfortunately, I didn’t achieve that goal at FIWC, so hopefully I can achieve it this time.

– If I manage to qualify into the ‘knock-out rounds’, then I’ll just take it 1 game at a time and see what happens.

– The level of FIFA is going to be extremely high, so I just want to play at my best level and represent myself and Melbourne City as well as possible.

You endured a mixed year in FIFA 17; finishing in 4th place in Sydney at your first ever event, then facing visa issues to miss out on going to Vancouver for the second event of the year. Afterwards, you qualified for the Season 3 playoffs and travelled to Doha with a FIWC spot on the line; thankfully you won the event, booking yourself a spot at the FIFA 17 Grand Finals in London, where things didn’t go as well as you may have hoped. How could you describe your FIFA 17 season?

Overall, my ‘FIFA 17 season’ was a huge success in my eyes.

– The FIFA 17 Season 1 ‘Rest of World’ Regional Final in Sydney was my first ever FIFA tournament. So, to finish 4TH was a big accomplishment and helped convince myself and others that I should try and pursue this ‘dream’ of mine.

– However, not being able to compete at the Season 2 Regional Final in Canada was a huge blow. The qualifying month for this event was January 2017 and I managed to finish 1st in the ‘ROW’ region; so not being able to go and compete was tough to take. I was disappointed at first but eventually got over it and honestly, it made me mentally stronger. It helped reaffirm to myself that you can let ‘road-blocks’ get in the way of any ‘goals’ that you have.

– The Season 3 FIWC Playoffs ended up being one of the best moment of my life. After being denied a chance to compete at Season 2, I put a lot of time in FIFA 17 and ended up qualifying in the last available qualifying month (April). It ended up being my best month of FIFA 17; I hit three 40/40’s in a row to finish the month on 155/160 and 11th in the world. This performance helped prove to myself that I could go and win this tournament. The combination of ‘playing good FIFA’ and ‘luck’ eventually lead to me winning the tournament and securing a ticket to the FIWC Grand Final.

– Unfortunately, the FIWC Grand Finals in London didn’t go ‘according to plan’ as was eliminated in the Group Stages. It was tough to take, as I played no-where near my best level of FIFA due to the pressure that I put on myself to perform. However, I learnt a lot from that tournament and will take that experience into the upcoming FUT Champions Cup in Barcelona.

In August you signed for Australian Football Club, Melbourne City, how does it feel to represent a professional club?

– Representing a football club as their FIFA Player is a dream come true. It feels even better for me because I get to represent my ‘home town club’ in Melbourne City.

– The club and the whole ‘City Football Group’ have been nothing but amazing towards me. My ultimate goal is to re-pay the ‘faith’ that they’ve put into me by competing on the world-stage and winning FIFA tournaments under their name.

Why do you think the Rest of the World region is not as strong nor competitive as the European region?

– In my opinion, the European region will always have the strongest players due to the sheer amount of people that play FIFA, especially at a competitive level. Everyone knows that the Europeans dominate the very top level of FIFA but the Americas players showed that they can compete at FIWC 2017 London.

– I believe that FIFA in the ‘ROW’ region is growing at a rapid-rate and the overall level of FIFA will only rise with time. The introduction of new FIFA tournaments/leagues such as the E-League in Australia will only help improve FIFA here in Australia and New Zealand.

– Also, I’m hopeful that players from the ROW region can put in good performances on the world-stage during FIFA 18 and prove themselves to the FIFA scene.

What are your thoughts on the current FUT Champions set-up and what changes would you make if any?

– The current FUT Champions set-up is very demanding.

– On one end, it’s hard for casual FIFA players to finish 40 games of competitive FIFA over the weekend. I can see why lots of people want the ‘Weekend League’ to be extended; the current format makes it hard for people to compete if they have other commitments during the weekend. There might be people out there that have the skill to become Pro/Top 100 players but simply don’t have the time to complete the games.

– However, on the other end, the current structure rewards people who dedicate a large part of their lives to FIFA + FUT Champions. People can argue that you need to make sacrifices in order to ‘make it in FIFA’ and that the structure shouldn’t be changed to accommodate for

certain people.

– In my opinion, the current structure of FUT Champions should be changed for FIFA 19. All of the other top e-Sports games don’t follow a structure like FUT Champions; instead they have a 24/7 ladder system that allows people to play whenever they want. This would be the most ideal set-up and would ultimately help grow FIFA as an e-Sport.

In your opinion, what is the best way to practice?

– I think the best way to practice is to play against Elite/Top 100 players. Playing lots of FIFA against high-quality players will help you improve in all areas of your game.

– On top of this, playing all 40 games of every ‘Weekend League’ is great practice. You’ll most likely come up against multiple play-style during the 40 games; this will force you to learn how to play against different styles of FIFA.

Do you have a playing schedule or do you just decide day to day?

– I’m currently in the process of creating a ‘weekly schedule’ as I think this will help me be more productive with my time.

– However, currently I decide day to day on how much FIFA I will play. Usually, I’ll play FIFA every day of the week except Tuesday, which is the day after FUT Champions closes (it ends at Monday 6PM here in Australia). Tuesday has become a ‘rest-day’ for me as FUT Champions can be very mentally draining.

Who’s been your favourite player to use so far on FIFA 18?

– My favourite player so far in FIFA 18 has been 84 IF Goretzka.

– In my opinion, he’s the best non-Icon midfielder in the game. He has all the qualities that you need in a centre-midfielder in FIFA; pace, height, 4* weak-foot, stamina, along with decent shooting, passing and dribbling.

What made you chose to sign for Melbourne City over a traditional esports organisation?

– It was a very straightforward choice to pick Melbourne City over any potential e-Sports organisation. I saw the opportunity to not only represent a football club, but a whole footballing group (City Football Group) as a massive honour. I never thought about turning down the offer to become Melbourne City’s FIFA player and I’m glad I made that decision.

With every single card available at the regional event what team are you planning on using?

If every single card is available in the game (including un-released Prime Icons):

SIF De Gea

IF 85 Valencia

94 Maldini

91 Blanc

Alex Sandro

91 Vieira

93 Gullit

93 Mattaus

98 Pele

95 ST CR7