The first ever tournament in phygital football ended today. And that was a real carnival. The champion’s title was won by the Brazilians from Tamo Junto who beat the team New Russian from Ekaterinburg in the decisive match in the series of penalty kicks.
Battle for the bronze medals: Lokomotiv vs Fake Football
This day of competition kicked off with the match for the third place Lokomotiv vs Fake Football. And the clash was worthy of a final! Players who were in the same team in the media league became rivals at the Phygital Games and that added up to the internal conflict. The teams put on a real show for the crowd scoring 26 goals overall!
Watching the two teams play the FIFA Volta game, it was hard to get rid of the suspicion that the match will hardly be competitive and spectacular. The team of Robert UFENOK77 Fakhretdinov clearly dominated and after just six minutes of play on a virtual pitch their opponents faced a 7-goal deficit as Fakhretdinov’s team won the match on the simulator with the score 8:1. To the most captious critics it might have seemed that after such lopsided virtual football match the all-around two-event clash was over, but reality proved much more exciting.
Yesterday after the completion of the semifinals Ed Sklyar, a player from Fake Football, said that his team arrived in Kazan with one goal in mind – to put on a great show for the fans. And the physical part of the match for the third place was worthy of a movie! 17 goals scored (including one by a goalkeeper), a sea of tricks, beautiful combinations and smiles, of course. The game showed by the players from both teams was nothing short of a real extravaganza on the pitch and all those present in the arena were infected with their mood. The broadcasting audience also caught the wave of drive. The aggregate score was 15:11 in favor of Lokomotiv, but it was unforgettable!
Tamo Junto vs New Russian. A final with a decisive penalty shoot-out
If in the first match the teams were more focused on the show and the beauty of tricks executed on the pitch, then in the title match all participants cared only about winning and clinching the title of the first champions of Phygital Games. And one has to admit that the match was worthy of its status. Throughout the whole clash the teams played very conservatively as they knew perfectly well errors can cost them dearly.
In the digital part Tamo Junto and New Russian are rather amateurs than professionals. Both lineups are represented entirely by former professional footballers, so the match played on the game console was more like a formality for both teams – it was plain to see that in their thoughts the players were already on the futsal court. Brazilians won the FIFA game 2:0.
But then a true battle began on the mini-football field. In a real football match none of the teams wanted to give in and the overall mood on the arena reminded of a Champions League final with prompting from the coach, sounds of impact and utmost concentration. The New Russian team leveled the aggregate score based on the results of two 10-minute long half times to take the match into a series of penalty kicks which the team Tamo Junto won for the second time over the course of two days. Congrats to the guys from Brazil on their well-deserved champion’s title!
