Okay, I don't post much on here and I'm not even sure this is the right place for it, but I just had to share my experience of the past 45 minutes with somebody and neither of my roommates are football fans, the jerks.
My team is FSV Frankfurt, from the 2.Bundesliga (I downloaded the PESEdit patch). I'm playing on Professional level difficulty. With sweat, blood and tears, I pulled them into the top-flight, then fought my way up the charts to qualify for the Champions League.
The Europe campaign was a daunting one - my club isn't rich, so putting together a roster is always about the most cost-efficient methods. I focused on cheap players with the speed to pull off the quick counter. Matching this budget roster up against the Champions League competition was a challenge. First, there were two must-win fixtures at the end of the group stage. The first round was a desperate stand against a relentless Real Madrid onslaught. Quarterfinals against Wolfsburg were an easier time, but the semifinals were a tense affair against AC Milan, scoreless for 175 minutes across both legs until a sudden breakaway squeezed in the winner at 85'. But that was nothing compared to the final.
For the finals, against Inter Milan, I decided to up the ante by turning on autosave and lengthening the match time to 20 minutes. I would make this one matter.
It started out well. A lucky rebound off the Inter keeper led to a early goal at 5'. The game was fast and furious with shots coming fast on both ends; Inter had a lineup of Eto'o, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney, but I was able to get downfield with my wingers surprisingly well. But the score stayed at 1-0, until 42', when a horrific attempt at a clearance by my center back let in a humiliating own goal.
And then, even worse, just after halftime, there was another own goal, this time my right back knocking my keeper's save into the net.
My striker made up the difference at 57'. It didn't last. Coutinho took back the lead five minutes later with a beautiful lob over my keeper's hands.
Down 3-2, I subbed in every offensive talent I could. For the next thirty minutes, they owned the field. They wreaked havoc on the defense and made the keeper work for it. But every attempt fell short and when Inter did get the ball to their forwards, it was a nightmare to defend.
But it pays off at 85', when my winger gets into space on the left and kicks in a beautiful early cross. It catches the backs completely out of position. It arcs in and lands right at my striker's feet three meters out. The keeper might as well not have been there.
Tied at 3, the game goes into extra time. At the opening of extra time, I continue to press my advantage. But as my strikers lose their last shreds of stamina, the tide turns. And Inter is still coming on strong.
The inevitable happens at 113' - Sneijder with a thundering header that my Youth Team keeper can only fondle as it rips into the net.
But the miracle happens at 119'. My right back gets lucky with a loose ball and pushes down the field. But he's tired, hard-pressed, and has no one to pass to. I attempt the early cross - it's easily deflected. The ball is bouncing lazily towards midfield. And out of nowhere, my defensive midfielder, perhaps the only pair of fresh legs left on my squad, storms into the midfield and takes it to the box. I tap the shoot button and send up a Hail Mary - and the keeper can't get to it. It's the leveler, from a player that's never scored in his entire time on my roster.
My team survives into the penalties. Of course, I've never won a game on penalties before. I absolutely suck at penalties. Inter drives their first in. My first is shanked well over the bar. 1-0.
Inter gets their second in easily. Their keeper blocks my second attempt. 2-0.
By this point, my heart is hammering like crazy. It's been forty minutes of real-time and the score's been up and down for so long.
I guess right on the third one and block the shot. So does Inter's keeper. Still 2-0. Another Inter goal or another miss on my part and I'm dead.
But I guess correct again. My kick is flawless and it's in, easily. 2-1.
Last one. And, miraculously, I guess correctly third time in a row. My captain, the fifth kicker, drives it in perfectly. 2-2 and it's sudden death. I've survived once again.
But now my streak breaks. I guess wrong. Fortunately, so does their keeper. 3-3.
Inter gets theirs in again. 4-3. The tension is unbearable. My heart is beyond racing - I can actually feel the blood pumping through my veins. My neck feels like like it's tightening up. And when my kicker runs up and I can see that their keeper has guessed correctly, I can literally feel my lungs squeezing into my throat. The keeper blocks it ... but it deflects off his body into the other direction, rolling in just inside the post. I feel like I've just died and come back to life. 4-4.
Inter's turn again. I've guessed wrong twice. I also know this is my last chance. My remaining kickers have no shooting ability at all. It's too much to hope that either of my center backs can score.
The kicker runs up. I throw caution to the wind and jam the left button. And I see the ball bounce off my keeper's fingertips and spin wide. I've got a chance. Exactly one.
My last chance steps up. Forty-five minutes, real life time, of this melodrama has passed. I've spent forty-five minutes with my heart racing, the tension squeezing my lungs, chasing the lead and scoring three desperate levelers to make up for my two horrible mistakes. And it's all down to one button - left or right.
I choose left. The keeper dives right.
It felt like air rushing back into my body, re-inflating like a balloon. I sat back in my chair, unable to do anything but watch as my players celebrated on the screen. When they lifted that animated Champions League trophy, my God, I almost wanted to cry.
My team is FSV Frankfurt, from the 2.Bundesliga (I downloaded the PESEdit patch). I'm playing on Professional level difficulty. With sweat, blood and tears, I pulled them into the top-flight, then fought my way up the charts to qualify for the Champions League.
The Europe campaign was a daunting one - my club isn't rich, so putting together a roster is always about the most cost-efficient methods. I focused on cheap players with the speed to pull off the quick counter. Matching this budget roster up against the Champions League competition was a challenge. First, there were two must-win fixtures at the end of the group stage. The first round was a desperate stand against a relentless Real Madrid onslaught. Quarterfinals against Wolfsburg were an easier time, but the semifinals were a tense affair against AC Milan, scoreless for 175 minutes across both legs until a sudden breakaway squeezed in the winner at 85'. But that was nothing compared to the final.
For the finals, against Inter Milan, I decided to up the ante by turning on autosave and lengthening the match time to 20 minutes. I would make this one matter.
It started out well. A lucky rebound off the Inter keeper led to a early goal at 5'. The game was fast and furious with shots coming fast on both ends; Inter had a lineup of Eto'o, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney, but I was able to get downfield with my wingers surprisingly well. But the score stayed at 1-0, until 42', when a horrific attempt at a clearance by my center back let in a humiliating own goal.
And then, even worse, just after halftime, there was another own goal, this time my right back knocking my keeper's save into the net.
My striker made up the difference at 57'. It didn't last. Coutinho took back the lead five minutes later with a beautiful lob over my keeper's hands.
Down 3-2, I subbed in every offensive talent I could. For the next thirty minutes, they owned the field. They wreaked havoc on the defense and made the keeper work for it. But every attempt fell short and when Inter did get the ball to their forwards, it was a nightmare to defend.
But it pays off at 85', when my winger gets into space on the left and kicks in a beautiful early cross. It catches the backs completely out of position. It arcs in and lands right at my striker's feet three meters out. The keeper might as well not have been there.
Tied at 3, the game goes into extra time. At the opening of extra time, I continue to press my advantage. But as my strikers lose their last shreds of stamina, the tide turns. And Inter is still coming on strong.
The inevitable happens at 113' - Sneijder with a thundering header that my Youth Team keeper can only fondle as it rips into the net.
But the miracle happens at 119'. My right back gets lucky with a loose ball and pushes down the field. But he's tired, hard-pressed, and has no one to pass to. I attempt the early cross - it's easily deflected. The ball is bouncing lazily towards midfield. And out of nowhere, my defensive midfielder, perhaps the only pair of fresh legs left on my squad, storms into the midfield and takes it to the box. I tap the shoot button and send up a Hail Mary - and the keeper can't get to it. It's the leveler, from a player that's never scored in his entire time on my roster.
My team survives into the penalties. Of course, I've never won a game on penalties before. I absolutely suck at penalties. Inter drives their first in. My first is shanked well over the bar. 1-0.
Inter gets their second in easily. Their keeper blocks my second attempt. 2-0.
By this point, my heart is hammering like crazy. It's been forty minutes of real-time and the score's been up and down for so long.
I guess right on the third one and block the shot. So does Inter's keeper. Still 2-0. Another Inter goal or another miss on my part and I'm dead.
But I guess correct again. My kick is flawless and it's in, easily. 2-1.
Last one. And, miraculously, I guess correctly third time in a row. My captain, the fifth kicker, drives it in perfectly. 2-2 and it's sudden death. I've survived once again.
But now my streak breaks. I guess wrong. Fortunately, so does their keeper. 3-3.
Inter gets theirs in again. 4-3. The tension is unbearable. My heart is beyond racing - I can actually feel the blood pumping through my veins. My neck feels like like it's tightening up. And when my kicker runs up and I can see that their keeper has guessed correctly, I can literally feel my lungs squeezing into my throat. The keeper blocks it ... but it deflects off his body into the other direction, rolling in just inside the post. I feel like I've just died and come back to life. 4-4.
Inter's turn again. I've guessed wrong twice. I also know this is my last chance. My remaining kickers have no shooting ability at all. It's too much to hope that either of my center backs can score.
The kicker runs up. I throw caution to the wind and jam the left button. And I see the ball bounce off my keeper's fingertips and spin wide. I've got a chance. Exactly one.
My last chance steps up. Forty-five minutes, real life time, of this melodrama has passed. I've spent forty-five minutes with my heart racing, the tension squeezing my lungs, chasing the lead and scoring three desperate levelers to make up for my two horrible mistakes. And it's all down to one button - left or right.
I choose left. The keeper dives right.
It felt like air rushing back into my body, re-inflating like a balloon. I sat back in my chair, unable to do anything but watch as my players celebrated on the screen. When they lifted that animated Champions League trophy, my God, I almost wanted to cry.
