• Third day at FIFAe World Cup 2022 full of tension in the air and tight matchups

• Umut and Emre Yilmaz look impressive through first rounds of the Knockout stage

• Four competitors remain: who will lift the first trophy of the FIFAe Finals 2022?

Day three of the FIFAe World Cup 2022™ presented by EA SPORTS™ has come to a close here at the Bella Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark and through the round-of-16 and quarter-finals, we have found the four competitors facing off in tomorrow’s dramatic final day.

The competition day kicked off at 11am with the first round-of-16 matchups. The butterflies in the players’ stomachs transitioned into the atmosphere in the arena, but all players were calmed down by their travelling family and friends in the audience.

The players who held their nerve on the biggest stage and secured their spot in the semi-final stage are Obrun2002, Nicolas99fc and Emre Yilmaz, but it was the German Umut who looked the most impressive on day three, keeping calm throughout his match-ups and taking his entire confident Group stage performance into the knockouts. 

View the full Knockout stage bracket so far on FIFA.GG.

Round of 16

The action kicked off again at 11am as the first round-of-16 matchup between Paulo Neto and LJR_Peixoto was one-sided: Paulo Neto jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first leg and continued to build on this in the second leg. The matchup between StingrayJnr and Tuga810 was much more tightly contested, as momentum swung both ways throughout the tie, but eventually Tuga prevailed in extra-time to progress to the quarter-finals.

The second matchups of the day between Nicolas99fc and Lamps & Umut and Young provided valiant efforts from the newcomers to the main stage, but the experience of Nicolas and Umut took them through to the next stage. Emre Yilmaz and Obrun2002 also secured convincing wins to make it to the next stage. However, the emotion was found in the last round of play to secure the final quarter-finalists, as Matiasbonanno9 overcame Pinna97 in extra-time and Bachoore survived a leg one scare from JRA to become the final participant in the evening session’s quarter-finals.

Quarter-Finals

The tension in the air was palpable for the start of the next round, and a spot in the semi-final was up for grabs for Tuga810 and Obrun2002, and a tightly contested affair was settled in extra-time, with both players playing solid defensive football. In the end it was Obrun - the eSerie A Champion and FIFAe Nations Cup qualifier who progressed to the final four of the FIFAe World Cup with a perfectly-timed finesse shot from outside the box.

The theme continued in the next matchup between Nicolas99fc and Bachoore - a game of few chances and set pieces, close statistics and small gaps ended in the veteran - Nicolas Villalba - overturning a one goal deficit to take it to extra time, and then eventually finding a winner from outside of the box to secure a top four finish, a place in tomorrow’s matchday and USD 25,000 guaranteed.

A match to break the tension was the flowing goals between Emre Yilmaz and Paulo Neto, who served up a six-goal thriller in the second leg, but ultimately it was the Team Gullit man Emre Yilmaz on his big-stage debut who claimed the third spot in the semi-final and will be competing again on the final day for his shot at USD 250,000.
The last matchup of the day brought us a battle between the top-seeded Group C qualifier Umut and the multi-pinnacle qualifier Matias Bonanno. Bonanno would score a beautiful flick-up volley in the first-leg and hold onto this lead until the last minute of the second leg, when a dramatic equaliser from Umut sent it into extra-time. In the added 30 minutes of play, the game would swing back and forth but the German would capitalise on the momentum and grab a couple of late goals to secure his place in the final four.

Make sure to view all the results so far on day three and continue to watch all the live matches as the tournament progresses and heats up on the hub of FIFAe. - FIFA.GG.

You can also now view the official Knockout stage bracket for tomorrow’s action here.