We exclusively invite you to discover the first impressions of our 8 Villeurbanne Spartans from RSFT who valiantly defended the colors of France (and those of Mister Babyfoot!) during the WCS Roberto Sport 2014.
Today, it's Maxime Blin, star player and coach of RSFT, who is speaking. Through his testimony, you will relive the major stages of the WCS 2014, a table football tournament reserved for an elite group that puts the players' nerves to the test. A look back at this marathon day with its ups and downs...
A look back at a very demanding tournament that makes us understand what "great table football" is all about.
World Championship Series: A difficult start
3 Doubles, 1 Singles, and a Nations Cup competition, that's what awaits me for the 3 days of competition. I might as well tell you right away that I'll quickly move on from my doubles performances because they were frankly very average.
A quick look back in chronological order of the competitions.
Semi-Pro Doubles:
One match, then two, then three… In the end, 6 defeats in qualifying… I can't seem to break out of this spiral…I finally manage to play well in the playoffs, but we come up against a solid Dutch team who will finish second in the competition… Loss 5-4 5-4 5-1…
Mixed Doubles:
After a good match in the Semi-Pro doubles, we play a Austrian team and we started the match very well, leading 2 sets to 0... And there's another thing I can't explain: we came back from 2 sets down to lose in the tiebreaker 8-6... It was infuriating because they were a weaker team than us, and yet we lost...
On the road to the semi-finals
Nations:
It was the first time I was the coach of the French team. Fortunately, I had the experienced Hervé Dos Santos at my side as Captain.
The qualifying draw had us playing Luxembourg and Slovenia, even though we had a forfeit in the third match. After the opening ceremony, which featured the presentation of the national teams and the anthems, it was time for the matches.
Our first match against Luxembourg ended in a 3-1 defeat... This is understandable, given how strong this team is at multi-table level. It's worth remembering that our team was mostly made up of players who were new to the foreign table.
The second match, against Slovenia, we easily won 4-0, which allowed us to qualify for the finals. In the finals, we faced our neighbors Switzerland, a team that has mastered the Roberto Sport table quite well.
We won two singles matches (Miguel Dos Santos and myself) and lost both doubles matches. There will therefore be a Penalty Shootout, a new feature for the 2014 season.
It's actually a list of 5 players on each team, each of whom will take turns trying to stop the opponent's shot and then try to score. Miguel stops the opponent's shot but is then scored on.
I'm second and I stop the opponent's shot after asking for advice from my teammates who had played my Swiss counterpart in matches. And I then score my penalty, which puts us up 1-0.
Our third shooter stops the shot and is scored on. Our team captain, Hervé, stops the Swiss' shot and scores his penalty. France is in the WCS Roberto Sport semifinals!
I must admit that the main goal was to get out of the qualifiers! Reaching the semifinals was quite an achievement for us.
In the semifinals, we faced Austria, who would go on to win the competition. As you can see, we were defeated by this competitive Austrian team 3-1. And unfortunately, no podium for us because Luxembourg also beat us 3-1 in the third-place play-off!
Open Doubles: Mixed results
A mixed qualification with two clear wins to start with, and then I gradually faded away...
At the end of the qualification rounds, I walked over to the screen showing the list of qualifiers for the final stages... And I saw that I was in the grayed-out non-qualifiers zone... By a mere goal average!!! Infuriating...
Open Singles: a renewed sense of clarity!
MY satisfaction with the tournament!
Once again, mixed qualifications, but this time it worked out! A first round against a Hungarian player who had a decent qualifying performance with a 5 out of 7.I won 8-6 in the tiebreaker, playing an interesting game, and I enjoyed playing.
In the second round, a second Hungarian, whom I surprisingly easily beat 3 sets to 0.
Then I faced an Austrian, seeded number 8, in the Round of 16. I played a tremendous match to qualify for the Round of 16 thFinal!
Unexpected, considering the level of play I had produced in previous competitions and even in today's qualifiers!
Unfortunately, my journey ended in the last 16 against a Czech player, with a 5-3 defeat in the playoff against an opponent I would describe as "unfair play." I'll spare you the details, but he won on a more than questionable shot.
Review of this WCS edition
It was my first time at the WCS Roberto Sport. I hadn't prepared as I didn't have a Roberto Sport foosball table available in the Toulouse region...
Next time, I'll go with some playing time on the table to get a better feel for it, as it was a truly difficult tournament.
