Atlanta United Advances to the Final Stage of the FGS TOTS Cup after a nail-biting Group Stage

LONDON - Atlanta United eSports Team presented by Perficient continued their recent 2022 momentum into the FIFA Global Series (FGS) Team of the Season Cup (TOTS), which is being played this weekend in London.

Round 1

Seeded in Group C, Paulo Neto and Vini Leiva, ATL UTD eSports duo, kicked off the tournament with a nail-biting opener against Israeli team NOM eSports.

The first leg of the match was a breeze for the Brazilian gamers winning by a score of 3-1. However, the second leg presented a bigger challenge, as NOM came back from behind after Atlanta United scored the first goal and entered the second half with a 3-1 lead.

Just when things seemed to favor Atlanta United with one more goal for a 4-3 aggregate score, which would make them winners of the match, NOM scored a goal in the 90' minute following a set piece, which tied the series in aggregate 4-4. That meant, the winner of the match would have to be decided by extra time or penalty kicks.

Both teams played with composure trying to avoid any mistakes during extra time, but Paulo and Vini took advantage of some space by their opponents near their box, and scored an incredible goal at the death, when the clock had already surpassed the 120' minute.

The other match in the group saw the English/South African team SAF x Goliath Gaming defeating one of the tournament favorites and fellow Masters team, Complexity Gaming from the U.S., by a score of 2-1 aggregate.

Complexity went on to beat NOM eSports in the Lower Round 1 match-up where they were remained alive in the competition by winning 6-3. With that result NOM eSports got eliminated.

Round 2

Paulo Neto and Vini Leiva then faced off in Round 2 against SAF x Goliath Gaming.

This time, the opponents proved to be even tougher, but Atlanta United put up a great fight. The first game of the two-legged match saw SAF x Goliath Gaming winning by 2-1.

For the second game, SAF x Goliath Gaming went in with full force and took the lead again with a 2-1 going into halftime, which gave them a 4-2 aggregate advantage. Neto and Leiva kept their composure and managed to pull a magnificent comeback to close up the game with a 3-2 after the regulation time winning the second leg, and tying the aggregate score 4-4.

It was another late-battle, as ATL UTD scored the fourth goal immediately after SAF x Goliath paused the game in the 89' minute to make some last minute arrangements. During extra-time both teams shared the ball and did not cause major concern to their opponent, and after the final whistle, the game was sent to penalty kick shootouts. It was SAF x Goliath who found themselves victorious in PKs after Atlanta failed two score twice.

Paulo and Vini will now face Complexity Gaming in the final match of Group C to determine the position they qualify for the Final Stage. Come back here to find out how the game finishes.

Lower Round 2

The last two teams standing after Round 2 from Group C gave us one of the most exciting games from Day 1 of the FGS TOTS Cup in London.

Atlanta United, who beat NOM eSports and lost to SAF x GG, faced against Complexity Gaming who came fresh from their victory against NOM eSports and having lost their first match to SAF. Both teams were directly - literally - facing each other in the complex were the tournament is being played, as their player pods happened to be one in front of the other, which added to the heat of the match.

The first of the two-legged games was won with a 2-1 score by Complexity, who showed why they were one of the favorites from this group coming into the tournament. For the second game, Paulo Neto and Vini Leiva bounced back and provided an incredible performance, coming back twice in the game but giving up a late goal for a 3-2 final score as the Complexity players got up from their chairs and yelled vividly at Neto and Leiva.

With the aggregate score tied 4-4, the game went to extra time which added a lot of pressure to both teams. After failing to score, Atlanta had to decide their second consecutive match of the day on a penalty kick shootout.

Atlanta United missed the first shot which brought back bad memories from the match agains SAF x GG, but Neto and Leiva managed to contain two of Complexity's shots to win the series in penalties 4-3.

The team now advances to the Final Stage of the tournament where they will be among the Top 16 teams of the competition.