FRISCO, Texas - On Sunday, FC Cincinnati’s pro FIFA player Gordon ‘Fiddle’ Thornsberry (FCC Fiddle)competed in eMLS League Series Two presented by Playstation at the Soccer Hall of Fame.
Fiddle came into the competition looking to improve on semifinal showing in his eMLS debut performance in January.
In eMLS’ first event last month - League Series One in in Los Angeles - Fiddle earned a top-four finish, advancing to the semifinals. At League Series One, he qualified for the live-streamed knockout portion, gained a quarterfinal win over NYCFC’s NYCCHRIS, but fell to Philadelphia’s Doolsta – who went on to win the competition – in the semifinals.
In League Two on Sunday, Fiddle began with regular-season play, taking on each member of the Eastern Conference.
The regular-season matchups went down to the very last game to determine who would make it through to the knockout stages. In the regular season, Fiddle topped Doolsta, and in the last game took down JKO1707 of the New England Revolution to earn a spot in the East’s top four once again.
As the knockout portion began, fourth-seeded Fiddle drew top seed Doolsta once again. After being topped by Doolsta in the semifinals at League Series One, Fiddle did not want to let that happen again.
Before League Series Two presented by Playstation began Fiddle noted, “It’s pretty obvious I want to play Doolsta. He beat me in the last tournament, so I’m looking to beat him.”
Even though Fiddle beat Doolsta in the East round-robin, Doolsta came through in their quarterfinal match. In the single-elimination knockout game, Fiddle played a hard fought match down to the final whistle. After conceding an early goal to Doolsta, it was Fiddle on the attack for most of the second half. In the 90th minute Fiddle had one final chance to equalize and narrowly missed his opportunity. Similarly to League Series One, Doolsta went on to win League Series Two beating Thaigo of the Portland Timbers in the final.
Although League Series Two didn’t go the way Fiddle hoped, he’s in great position heading into eMLS Cup next month. Fiddle sits in fourth place in the overall standings and will have a great shot at competing for eMLS Cup.
eMLS Cup will take place at PAX East in Boston on March 30. All the eMLS players will gather for one final competition to cap the 2019 eMLS season.
Match Highlights
Make sure to follow @fccincinnati and the club’s eMLS correspondent Jake Barford (@bfordlancer48) onTwitter for all your eMLS updates. You can follow along to Fiddle’s preparation for eMLS Cup by following him on Twitch (fiddlegt), Twitter (@FiddleGT), YouTube (/fiddletongt) and Instagram (@Gthornsberry).
