There's a new king of the hill in eMLS, as FC Cincinnati's Gordon Thornsberry (aka FCCFiddle) won his first eMLS event by taking home League Series One presented by PlayStation and Coca Cola. The Cincy gamer and regular 2019 contender defeated newcomer George Adamou (GAdamou10) of the New York Red Bulls 3-1 in the final. It was a memorable run for both players, with Fiddle seeing off a trio of talented newcomers to win the title, while Adamou took down two of 2019's best performers, including reigning treble winner doolsta of Nashville SC.
Ultimately, a pair of goals in the first half from Fiddle proved to be the difference in the final. He took the lead right away as he put away a rebound with Josef Martinez in the fifth minute. He then put himself firmly in the driver’s seat in the 31st minute with a piledriver strike by Brazilian icon Ronaldo.
Adamou pulled one back in the second half, also netting with Ronaldo, but Fiddle restored the two-goal cushion almost immediately, showing great composure with Ronaldo to lay it off for a Luciano Acosta tap-in at the far post.
By winning League Series One, Fiddle took home a $7,500 cash prize, not to mention a trophy of his own. He will look to defend his crown in League Series Two, set to take place on Feb. 15 in Portland. Then, he and the other 24 eMLS gamers will compete for the league's ultimate prize, eMLS Cup, at SXSW in Austin on the weekend of March 20.
You can find a recap and the best highlights from the other six games of the tournament below:
Semifinals
GAdamou10 (RBNY) 1, vs. Didychrislito (NYC) 0
The second semifinal of the evening threw up a New York derby between the tournament’s last remaining newcomer, GAdamou10 and one of the established favorites, Didychrislito. It proved to be as hard-fought a match as any derby and produced the only clean sheet of the live stream. It was the eMLS debutant Adamou who got the lone goal of the game, firing home from just inside the box just before the stroke of halftime:
It was all he would need, along with a strong defensive display, to book his spot against Fiddle in the final
FCC_Fiddle (CIN) 4 [4], exraa (VAN) 4 [3]
The first semifinal saw two players who have frequently trained together square off in what ended up as one of the most thrilling games of the tournament. Exraa took the lead late in the first half with a fantastic passing move. Exraa picked up a second after the restart with a placed finish, but Fiddle set up a thrilling finish by scoring with 15 minutes left on the clock and the found an 87th-minute equalizer after a well-worked attacking move the ended with a cutback to the far post:
However, exraa didn’t let the comeback faze him in extra time, and showed his cool to take it around the goalkeeper and re-take the lead from a tight angle. Exraa added what looked to be an insurance goal, but true to the form of the match, Fiddle once again scored twice — including on the final attack of the match, to force penalties. Fiddle once again prevailed in kicks from the mark, winning 4-3 in the shootout.
Quarterfinals
Didychrislito (NYC) 6, Jay Ajayi (PHI) 0
The top seed in the tournament NYCFC’s Didychrislito, enjoyed a comfortable win over one of the eMLS circuit’s most noteworthy newcomers, Super Bowl winner Jay Ajayi of the Philadelphia Union. Though Ajayi showed some promising skills moving the ball forward, Didychrislito was able to work his way through Ajayi’s defense on more than a few occasions. Ajayi clearly enjoyed the occasion in his pro FIFA debut, but the City man showed the ruthlessness that led him to last year’s eWorldCup, scoring three times in each half.
GAdamou10 (RBNY) 2, doolsta (NSH) 1
He may have been a tournament newcomer, but the New York Red Bulls’ GAdamou10 showed why he’s the top-ranked American player in competitive FIFA this year by knocking out the reigning eMLS treble winner, Nashville’s doolsta. The Red Bulls man struck once early in each half with Ruud Guillit, one of the icon cards (retired legends of the game) in use by nearly every eMLS player. doolsta pulled one back after a disconnect forced a short pause in the game, but Adamou was able to see the game out fairly comfortably.
FCCFiddle (CIN) 1 [2], Paulo Neto (ATL) 1 [0]
The second quarterfinal match saw one of the circuit’s most talked about additions, 17-year-old Brazilian Paulo Neto of Atlanta United, taking on one of the tournament favorites in FCCFiddle of FC Cincinnati. The Cincy man opened the scoring after a beautiful one-two move, but Neto struck back immediately and the match settled into a cagey, back-and-forth affair that even extra time could not decide. Fiddle turned in a penalty master class, though, saving all four of Neto’s efforts in the shootout and scoring two of his own to move on to the semifinal:
exraa (VAN) 2, RemiMartinn (LAFC) 1
Exraa, a newcomer playing for Vancouver, took home the opening match of the tournament, a well-played game against LAFC’s RemiMartinn that with contrasting direct and possession-based styles. Exraa struck first just before halftime using one of his five MLS players, Luciano Acosta. Remi looked like he might make exraa pay for a number of missed second-half chances when he equalized midway through, the Whitecaps player — the second-youngest in the tournament — found the top corner with Ronaldo with just minutes left after some beautiful skill to set up his shot:
