This weekend marks the culmination of the 2022 eMLS season, with the eMLS Cup kicking off the South by Southwest festival in Austin on Sunday, March 13. And if Houston Dynamo FC’s eMLS athlete George Adamou hopes to compete for the Cup, he will have to win the Last Chance Qualifier tournament this Saturday. The tournament begins at 12:30 p.m. CT on Saturday and fans can follow the action on MLSSoccer.com.
eMLS Cup is comprised of 12 e-sports athletes. The first 11 participants are determined by the overall standings from the first two league series. Adamou finished in 14th place in those standings.
For Adamou, the results in League Series 2 were disappointing, and he chalked them up to a combination of a change in the game and his mentality as a result of that change.
“The week before League Series 2, EA released a patch that made the game more defensive and completely changed the structure of the game. After hours and hours of repetition, playing the game pre-patch, I felt like I was at the top of my game and that a patch would not affect me at all,” Adamou said. “Mentally after losing three games in a row, I allowed every previous loss to affect the way I was playing instead of solely focusing on the game at hand. I needed to look at the bigger picture.”
As a result, George’s chances for entry come down to the Last Chance Qualifier Tournament. In this tournament, the 16 players that did not qualify for eMLS Cup are placed into four different groups, and then go through a knockout bracket to determine the winner.
Despite not qualifying directly for the Cup, Adamou should feel confident about his chances heading into Saturday. Among athletes in the Last Chance Qualifier, Adamou finished the first two league series with the second-best goal differential at plus-2.
The former Adelphi University soccer player is confident that he will perform up to his standards this time around.
“After LS2, I knew that what I displayed was not what I was capable of. I’ve had a few months to learn this patch and I’m ready to leave it all out and take that last spot at eMLS Cup,” Adamou said. “There is not eMLS Cup without George Adamou. 2020 champion and 2021 runner up. With the tournament being on LAN, I think I have a major advantage over the other players. My season will go one of two ways this weekend. Either I don’t make eMLS Cup or I win the whole thing. There is no in between. I’m looking forward to it all.”
If Adamou does make it into eMLS Cup, he will then have a chance to earn a direct seat to the EA SPORTS Global Series Playoffs on the Road to the FIFAe World Cup, if he finishes in the top three.
Fans who want to watch Adamou play for a chance at the eMLS Cup can tune in on www.mlssoccer.com, www.twitter.com/MLS or www.twitch.tv/MLS.
