Ettore wins the PES World Finals 2011

The PES World finals took place yesterday in Cologne, Germany, with UK Champion Ali Sufi, (bad_boy_g) and runner-up Oz Idris representing England against the other regional champions from across the world.

The players were drawn into groups, with the top two from each group going through. Ali was placed into the first group with last year's World Final winner, and Oz into group eight, which was a smaller group with only four players.

Ali had a tough first match against reigning World Champion Christopher, with the first goal going to Christopher on 17 minutes. By half-time Christopher had made it 2-0, with a third goal being scored with just 15 minutes to go for a 3-0 score.

Oz' first game was against Mickey, with a slow start although Mickey was keeping possession during the goalless first half. The second half was better for both players, with both players scoring two goals each to finish 2-2.

Oz's second match was against Oleg Deminov from Russia, another strong player who scores first within 10 minutes. Oz had a slow start, and let through another goal with some sloppy defending, but then picks his game up and scores twice for a 2-2 scoreline at half-time. Neither player were able to score during the second half with a tight game which therefore ended 2-2.

Ali's second match went better for him, as he beat Swiss player Venom 4-0, but then lost his third match 5-1, leaving him requiring a win to go through from the group stages.

Oz played Dane Ali Ibrahim (Aloosh20)for his third match, and had a good start with a goal at 10 minutes, and some missed opportunities by Aloosh through the rest of the half. The second half was goalless, giving Oz the 1-0 win and going through to the knockouts!

Ali won his fourth game 2-1, but due to goal difference, missed out on going through to the knockouts.

On to the last 16 and the two-legged knockouts, a change for this event. Seedings were done a little differently too, and Oz was drawn against the current Champ Christopher..

The last 16 knockout draw was as follows:

1. Alonso Rosa De Farais (BRA) vs Mickael Dovale (POR)
2. Dennis Winkler (Ger) vs Chems Sarhani (FRA)
3. Anastasios Pappas (GRE) vs Subaru Sagano (JPN)
4. Domingos Nelson Tome (FRA) vs Aviran Cohen (ISR)
5. Ettore Giannuzzi (IT) vs Bruno Pinto (POR)
6. Loris Lezzi (ITA) vs Georgios Kalpakidis (GER)
7. Xavier Balaguer (SPA) vs Rodrigo Rana (MEX)
8. Oz Idris (UK) vs Christopher Maduro (POR)

Oz had a great first half, leading 1-0, but there were goals scored on either side in the second half, with a final score of 2-3, to Christopher.

The second-leg match began with an almost immediate goal for Christopher, bringing the aggregate score to 2-4. Oz is punished for a tackle and is down to 10 men before Chris scores another goal on the 35th minute.
Oz manages to score on 63 minutes to bring the scoreline back to 2-1, but Chris pulls out all the stops and goes on to win 5-1 and go through to the next round.

On to the quarter-finals:

1. Alfonso Rosa De Farias (BRA) vs Dennis Winkler (Ger)
2. Subaru Sagano (JPN) vs Domingos Nelson Tome (FRA)
3. Ettore Giannuzzi (IT) vs Georgios Kalpakidis (GER)
4. Xavier Balaguer (SPA) vs Christopher Maduro (POR)

Alfonso lost 1-4 to Dennis, Subaru beat Domingos 4-1, Ettore won 7 goals to 4 against Georgios, while Xavier lost 4-6 against Christopher.

Semi finals:

Dennis Winkler vs Subaru Sanago
Ettore Giannuzzi vs Christopher Manduro

Subaru beat Dennis, while Ettore defeated Christopher.. Ettore and Subaru therefore went on to the final, a 15 minute game with only one leg. Seabass and the team were also present, cheering on the Japanese champion.

Ettore went 2-1 up against Subaru by half time and then played a defensive game, which ended 4-1 to the Italian!

Congratulations to Ettore, the new World Champion, and well done to all the other players for getting so far.