Yamani Claims the Prize

The FIFA tournament concluded with a final that was the most exciting match of them all.  Mohamed Salem broke open a 2 - 0 lead with his Liverpool team half way through the first half only to see Yamani come back again and again, eventually forcing extra time with the match tied 3 - 3.  In extra time Yamani struck twice but still had to suffer some nervous moments and Mohamed Salem scored near the end and had one final attack before the whistle blew for full time.  The final score of 5 -4 was the highest score of the tournament and was a demonstration of both finalists' skill.

Yamani's trip to the final was just as difficult.  Mohamed Alfifi and his Barcelona team kept Yamani scoreless through the entire semifinal match and overtime period.  The game had to be restarted before Yamani finally broke through for the 1 - 0 victory.  

In the other semifinal Mohamed Salem was all about the offense with a decisive 3 - 0 victory.  He had the Reds firing on all cylinders as he also had to play the final group C match before the semi final kicked off. 

 

All in all it was a great tournament and a lot of fun for everyone involved.  Thanks to everyone who played and made it a big success.

The Finals are Here

The final round of FIFA competition is happening today at 12:30.  Bracket D produced some high scoring matches, but in the end it was Mohamed Al Afifi who guided his Barcelona team into the last four of the tournament.

Today the last match of Bracket C will be played between Mohamed Salem and Abdulla Ahmed before moving onto the semifinals.  In the semifinals Yamani will play Mohamed Al Afifi and Mohamed Ismail will take on the winner of Bracket C.  Yamani has used France to get to the semifinals, while Mohamed Ismail, Mohamed Salem and Abdulla Ahmed all relied on Liverpool.  Will everyone stick with the teams that got them this far or will they switch things up for the big matches?

Come out and watch the exciting conclusion of this semester's FIFA classic.

Prizes and the Final Bracket

Today the competition moves to Bracket D, where the final players will compete for a chance to enter the championship round.

The prizes have been revealed for the FIFA tournament.
Over 60 players have competed and the top two will walk
away with one of these.

Bracket C played on Monday and once again, some amazing PS4 FIFA skill was on display.  In Bracket Mohamed Salem and Abdulla Ahmed both used Liverpool to advance to the bracket's final match.  They dominated the bracket the way Liverpool has dominated the premier league this year and they will battle it out for a spot in the final four.

Today at 12:30, the remaining players will get their chance in Bracket D.  Half lengths have been reduced to four minutes for the bracket play in order to get enough matches in during the break time.

The tournament will come to a conclusion on Thursday.  The prizes have been purchased and they are PlayStation Wallet Top-Ups for the top two finishers.  The stakes will be high to get into the final and even higher to go ahead and win the trophy.  Good luck to all the players that are still fighting for the prize.

Bracket B Packed with Excitement

Bracket B was full of exciting matches on Thursday. 10 games were played and three teams remain from the bracket with hopes of winning the championship.  The dominance of the French national team continued with two of the three remaining bracket B teams playing with Mbape and company.  The other team to survive the day was Liverpool.

The French team continues to dominate this year's
FIFA tournament.

Every match was fun to watch, but nobody provided more thrills than Sultan Saif.  In Sultan Saif's first match his French team escaped elimination by the smallest of margins against Turki's Manchester United team.  At the full time whistle the score was tied at 1 - 1 thanks to a late goal by Turki.  In the extra time, Sultan Saif headed in a cross to end the match by the golden goal rule.  In his next match, Sultan Saif quickly fell behind 2 - 0 to Natnael's Barcelona squad.  Griezman had a breakaway chance for Barcelona.  If he had scored, Natnael would have won immediately by the 3-goal-lead rule, but he chipped narrowly over the bar.  That woke Sultan Saif's team up and when they charged back to the other end, it was Griezman wearing the French shirt that scored for Sultan Saif.  After exchanging many goals, the most improbably comeback of the tournament was complete and Sultan Saif had won 4 - 3.

In other action, Abdulla Khaled cruised to three straight victories with the French team.  He was completely dominant on the day, scoring seven goals while only conceding one. 

Mohamed Ismail and Liverpool is the other team remaining.  Due to some 'no shows', Mohamed Ismail only played one match on Thursday.  He played against Fahad and Man City on the promenade PS4 and impressed the crowd with a 3 - 0 win. 

On Sunday, he will battle Sultan Saif for the right to play against Abdulla Khaled.  The winner will advance to the championship round.  The last matches of Group A will also be contested on Sunday.

Day One Recap

Bracket A got the tournament started yesterday with 12 matches that whittled the 16 starting players down to four.  The competition was fierce but Yamani, Mayed, Mohamed Aljunaibi and Hamdan were impressive in the opening two rounds and showed that they are threats to win the tournament.

Some exciting early round action got the tournament
off to a flying start.

Yamani played with the French national team and had Mbappe and Griezmann on top form.  Yamani's second round victory over one of the tournament favorites, Sultan, was a classic.  After going down 1 - 0, Sultan was inches away from equalizing for Barcelona with a blistering Messi shot. Seconds later, Yamani launched a vicious counter attack to seal the victory and his spot in the third round.

Mayed played with Real Madrid and got past Mohamed Almuhairi's Manchester City in a thrilling 2 -1 fixture. That was a cold dose of reality for Mohamed who had rolled to a 4 -1 victory in the first round after conceding an early goal.

Mohamed Aljunaibi got through the first round due to a forfeit, but in the second round he had to work hard against Nasser to earn the 4 -2 victory.  Mohamed played with Real Madrid and Nasser countered with Bayern Munich in their high scoring encounter.

Finally, Hamdan used France to run over Hassan's Barcelona 3 - 0 in the first round.  In the second round he faced Barcelona again, this time controlled by Mohamed Saleh, but the result was the same, a 3 - 0 victory for France and Hamdan.

Interestingly, of the four teams remaining in bracket A, two used the French national team and two played with Real Madrid.  If two teams with the same team match up in the Bracket A final, a coin toss may have to be used to determine who gets to play with their preferred team.  Bracket A action will continue on Sunday during the common hour break. 

Bracket B gets started today.  Good luck to everyone competing! 

24 Hours Until Game Time

Six new controllers are ready to go for tomorrow's
Bracket A matches.

The new PS4 controllers are charged and the FIFA 2020 games have been downloaded.  We are now less than one day away from the opening matches of the 2019 Fall Semester FIFA Championship at Zayed University.   Bracket A will get things going tomorrow.  The first three matches will start at 12:30.  This is a single elimination tournament, so when Sultan vs Aymen, Aron vs Hamad and Tariq vs Mohamed finish their five-minute matches, only three of them will remain in the competition.  Bracket A has 16 players but by 1:20 tomorrow afternoon only one will be left unbeaten and placed into the championship round.

16 players in Bracket B will play during Thursday's common hour break and action will continue next Monday and Wednesday for Brackets C and D.

If you registered to play and don't want to collect a lot of tournament yellow cards, you need to know the rules.  Have a look at the rules so that you are ready to go and we can keep the games on schedule.

There is still room for 19 more players, so if you want play you can still click on the registration link above.

Two Days Until Kickoff

The anticipation is building and preparations are almost complete for this year's ZU PS4 FIFA Championships.  Bracket A and Bracket B are now complete, so the first 32 players can see the path they must take to become the champion. 

Students continue to sign up to play.  If you haven't joined the tournament yet, register now by clicking here. You'll be added to Bracket C or Bracket D, but don't wait too long or you'll miss out on your chance to show your FIFA skills and become a champion.

All matches will be played during the 12:30 - 1:30 break in the game room or on the promenade.

Good luck!