NEW YORK, New York -- Bernardo "MrEstrino" Polvo-Romero will be advancing to EA Sports FIFA 17 Ultimate Team Regional Finals next March after winning the first ever eCOPA Coca-Cola Finals on Saturday, taking home a $5,000 scholarship. These tournaments are part of a year of EA-hosted FIFA 17 competitions with a total prize pool of $1.3 million.
The eCOPA event featured four finalists who had qualified among hundreds of collegiate gamers from 74 schools. MrEstrino defeated Cody Bowman in the semifinals; then, without dropping a game, the Arizona State pre-med sophomore completely dominated the finals against Florida Atlantic senior Arthur Crouse.
Playing a high-dribble possession game, MrEstrino made it difficult for Crouse to even get the ball. Not only that, he used the entire field to his advantage. "I spread the ball throughout the whole field. That opened up the game and helped me create a lot of changes," MrEstrino told ESPN.
The first game actually went into overtime, and that's always been a pain point for MrEstrino. "Well I get a little bit nervous, but you have to keep composure just so that you don't really lose focus of the game," he admitted.
And just like in soccer, the pressure to prevent a penalty kick situation is there. "Yeah, so it's a little bit that and then you don't want to continue. So it's like you want to attack but you've got to stay focused on your defense," said MrEstrino.
MrEstrino eked out the first game, but the second game was very one-sided. "I'm using 4-1-2-1-2 [formation] because, I guess for me, it's the most dominant formation just because I like creating [goals] from the middle," he said.
Now that MrEstrino has confirmed his spot for the regional finals, the pressure is on. "I played a couple of people in the top five in the past month, and I mean they're beatable, but it's just so hard to compete against them," he noted.
Being 19 and a pre-med student means that that he can only dedicate so much time to FIFA. He confirmed, "School comes first, I can't let that go. And then FIFA comes second."
Dropping out of school to play FIFA full time doesn't seem like an option either: "So far from what I know, there's only one North American player that's signed to an esports team, and that would be [Giuseppe] Guastella," said MrEstrino.
Guastella signed with Versus Sports on Sept. 19 in a first-of-its-kind contract for the NA FIFA scene.
But if MrEstrino does get signed, his priorities may drastically change. "The future will tell," he said.