Fulham beats Atletico 2-1... in FIFA 2010

I'm not sure how many gamers there are out there (or those who will admit to being gamers)- but I decided to be nerdy and play Fulham v. Atletico in FIFA 2010 for PS2 (yep, always a console generation behind- I'm sure to get PS3, Wii or 360 by 2018).

I suppose I could've been even more nerdy and just did a CPU v. CPU simulation for the most accurate result- but considering in that case Andrew Johnson would be starting and Zamora and Gera aren't nearly as good in the game as they are IRL, I figured I might as well play. Plus, I'm biased and it's more fun.

I got the lineups as close as possible (without making transfers for the sake of one game) to the second leg of the Semi-final, but some things didn't quite match up ( Most importantly De Gea isn't on Atletico, which means in this game they got to use a more experienced keeper, less significantly there's one less bench spot, Smalling isn't on Fulham in the game to be on the bench,).

There isn't an option (at least not that I know) to change the venue of a friendly (Maybe somewhere in FIFA Lounge, but again- not making too much effort here)- so it was played at a generic Craven Cottage-like stadium (should I do a second leg at Madrid to be fair? Nah, the game has spoken)- with Fulham wearing the Away Red kit (only home and away kits are available).

I'll spare you all the gorey details (even though I did actually type them up)- but here's the important ones. Perea of Atletico is Red Carded in the 33rd minute for roughly tackling Zamora in the area. Danny Murphy takes the penalty, but it's parried away by Asenjo. Murphy makes up for it by SCORING in the 36th minute off a nearly perfect cross from Gera. Aguerro EQUALIZES for Atletico in the 45th minute on a nice finish after a defensive lapse (more characteristic of my playing than FFC obviously). Zamora SCORES in stoppage time on a lob from an angle off a rebound of his own shot that hit the near post. Cagey defensive second half and Fulham are European champions. Hopefully, tomorrow's a bit less intense.



Of course, FIFA 2010 isn't exactly an accurate rendering of real life, considering I just led Fulham to a 3rd place finish (Champions League berth) in my first season in Manager Mode (pick the most ridiculous of these results: Chelsea finishes 10th in the league, Diomansy Kamara scores 22 league goals for the Whites and leads the Premier League in goals and assists, Burnley scores more goals than Chelsea, Blackburn finishes 4th to qualify for the Champions League, Fulham gives up the second most goals in the Premier League, Fulham scores the most goals in the Premier League). I should probably move up a difficulty level (I'm on Pro, which is 3rd highest of the 4, top one being World Class).

~Steve

 

Hamburg's stadium is in the game. Simming it would be inaccurate for the reasons you mentioned, but also b/c the formation for Fulham isn't what we really run. You'd have to waste quite a bit of time trying to set it to how we play.

Good omen though. The sims they've run on Madden have predicted the Super Bowl winner a very high % of the time.