The Philadelphia Union's doolsta topped the LA Galaxy's GGGodfather 2-1 on aggregate to claim the title at eMLS Cup 2019 presented by PlayStation on Saturday evening.
The title game was the only matchup to feature two legs, and after a very tight first leg that ended 0-0 thanks to numerous missed chances and blocked shots, doolsta was able to pull out a tight 2-1 win in the second leg. GGGodfather took the early lead, executing a thunderous turn and finish with Cristiano Ronaldo, but doolsta was also able to use his own version of Ronaldo to finish off a well-worked team move to equalize just before halftime.
With his parents in attendance, doolsta netted once more with Ronaldo in the 75th minute, finding enough space in the box to rip a shot into the back of the net for the game winner:
Doolsta's eMLS Cup win completes a perfect 2019 eMLS Cup season for the 18-year-old, after he also claimed the titles at eMLS League Series One and Two. By taking the eMLS Cup crown, he earned a $25,000 prize and 850 FIFA Global Series Points, a big boost in his attempt to qualify for this summer's FIFA eWorldCup.
By reaching the final, doolsta and GGG Godfather also qualified to represent the United States at the inaugural eNations Cup in April.
The win capped an exhilarating day of FIFA competition, which saw relatively few blowouts and plenty of one-goal wins. Saturday started with the Last Chance bracket, which afforded all the players that finished outside of the top five in their respective conferences an opportunity to earn a place in the final tournament bracket.
San Jose’s CaliSCG came out of the West, while Chicago’s BITW 18 came out of the East, but neither were able to get past the knockout rounds, falling to RCTID_Thiago (Portland) and FCC Fiddle (FC Cincinnati), respectively.
Elsewhere in the Knockout Rounds an in-form FIFA Abe (Orlando) managed to upset the higher-seeded Lyes MTL (Montreal) by a 3-1 scoreline, while in the West the competition’s oldest player, GGGodfather, beat its youngest player, Skill Shack (Vancouver), in a 3-2 thriller.
The knockout rounds and Last Chance bracket set up they evening’s final stage, where the rest of the expected contenders began their Saturday campaigns.
There was drama to be had from the get-go, as defending eMLS Cup champ Kid M3mito of the Houston Dynamo met GGGodfather in a thrilling conference semifinal. With the score at 2-2, the match went to extra time and the Galaxy man pulled out the win with a 115th-minute Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal to ensure there would be a new champ in the second year of eMLS.
On the other side of the West bracket, AlanAvi edged out League Series Two finalist RCTIDThiago in a hard-fought match, with the FC Dallas player barely squeezing in a first-half goal that would prove to be the decider.
In the East, FCC Fiddle, the most prolific eMLS player of 2019, met world No. 9 NYCChris (NYCFC), with NYCChris coming back to claim a 2-1 win. Joining him in the Eastern Conference Championship doolsta, one of the tournament favorites after winning League Series One and Two and a comfortable 4-1 winner over FIFA Abe in the East semifinals.
GGGodfather claimed another close win in the West final, getting revenge with a tight 1-0 win over AlanAvi after the Dallas man had knocked him out of League Series Two. While that game was tense, it had nothing on what came next in the Eastern Conference title game.
Doolsta looked like he might run away with it after grabbing a well-earned first-half lead, but NYCChris struck right back before stunning doolsta with a goal in first-half stoppage time to take the lead. Doolsta equalized early in the second half, setting off a scoring free-for-all that saw NYC_Chris take the lead two more times, only for doolsta to answer both times, including in the final minute of regulation.
That set up an equally thrilling period of extra time, which saw doolsta take a first-half lead, only to be pegged back in second frame. That set up a nail-biting penalty shootout, with each player making their first six kicks before doolsta scored his seventh penalty and saved the response, sending him on his way to eMLS Cup glory.
