ABRAHAM FOUGHT THROUGH THE LOSERS BRACKET TO WIN TITLE, MLS SEASON TICKETS
NASHVILLE - Nashville SC’s quest to determine the best EA Sports FIFA 20 player in the state came to an end on Sunday at Vanderbilt University at the Tennessee EA Sports FIFA 20 Invitational Final. Samuel Abraham, who uses the gamertag sammythebaconboy, took home the top prize, earning himself a pair of Nashville SC MLS Season Tickets for the 2020 season as well as $200 worth of FIFA Points.
“This feels crazy,” said Abraham after his victory in the Grand Final, a 3-0 win over top-seeded Alejandro Tano. “I was pretty stressed for a while there, but I’m feeling good now.”
Abraham’s title chances took a major hit just a couple rounds into the tournament. An early loss relegated him to the losers bracket, where he’d have to play more matches and inevitably beat the winner’s bracket champion twice in order to claim the trophy.
Abraham, who had been playing as Liverpool for his first couple of matches, switched his team to France after the loss, knowing he had to win all of his remaining matches in the double elimination format.
“I'm a Liverpool fan and I love playing with them, but they weren't doing the job for me,” said Abraham. “Especially against the guy that beat me before, so I was like yeah, I have to switch to France and they did the job.”
Abraham played with France in the Knoxville qualifier, and said the team-switch midway through the tournament made things easier for him.
He didn’t lose again after that.
Abraham blew through the losers bracket, avenging his earlier loss and earning the right to play for the title against Tano, who remained undefeated up to that point. After upending Tano 3-1 in the first final match, Abraham defeated him convincingly a second time to take home the grand prize.
An undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Abraham dominated the Knoxville regional in order to qualify for the Invitational round. He lives in Nashville, where he’ll have ample opportunities to utilize his season tickets come March.
“I want to take my little brother,” said Abraham when asked about attending games for the inaugural MLS season. “It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be a ride.”
Abraham has been a lifelong soccer player and soccer fan, picking up the game when he was six years old back in Egypt, where he spent the early years of his life. Abraham moved from Egypt to the United States when he was nine, and settled in Nashville, Tennessee with his family. He credits his Liverpool fandom to his favorite player, fellow Egyptian Mo Salah. Abraham says he still plays soccer recreationally, and picked up EA Sports FIFA in 2013.
“I don’t really have a regimen,” said Abraham about his FIFA schedule. “I just kind of play whenever I don’t have homework or schoolwork or anything like that.”
Sammythebaconboy might not have a FIFA regimen, but whatever he’s doing now is working, and he’ll have a season’s worth of Nashville SC MLS tickets to show for it.
