At the FIFA eNations Cup, which took place last weekend in London, they were amongst the favourites. However, the German e-players Mohammed “MoAuba” Harkous and Michael “MegaBit” Bittner were knocked out for the competition in the group stages. DFB.de’s Karl Evers sat down with the pair to discuss reasons for the premature exit and their experiences at the tournament.
DFB.de: Mohammed “MoAuba” Harkous and Michael “MegaBit” Bittner, have you been able to deal with the disappointment of the weekend?
MegaBit: Generally I can reflect on things like this quite quickly, but in hindsight it isn’t easy. More than anything you would want to change everything but unfortunately that’s impossible now. We will analyse our mistakes and come back stronger.
MoAuba: We haven’t yet been able to process exiting the tournament so early. Additionally, the weekend was the first time that we were representing our country and not just playing under our own name, which makes the early elimination even more disappointing.
DFB.de: You previously said that your advantages lie in the two-versus-two mode, because you are experienced together. However, you only won one of the four games you played as a pair. Why is that?
MoAuba: We dominated almost every game, but couldn’t show what we are capable of defensively. As we adopted a very attacking game plan, we made frustrating mistakes and conceded too many goals on the counter attack.
MegaBit: We actually started very well against Norway, and things went as planned. Against Argentina and Brazil, we were a bit too wild. Our pressing didn’t work and we went behind early. From then on we had to try and force goals, which is always difficult.
DFB.de: Do you think that you possibly underestimated your group opposition – especially Brazil, who won the group?
MoAuba: No, definitely not. We knew that we would have a tough group and it was clear beforehand that one of three big teams – Argentina, Brazil and Germany – would be knocked out. In the end it was us.
MegaBit: The fact that France won the tournament just showed how crazy the competition was, especially for the favourites. After the first day, DaXe and Maestro (Lucas “DaXe” Cuillerier and Corentin “Maestro” Thuillier, the two French e-players) didn’t even expect to get through the group stages. But when Saudi Arabia unexpectedly dropped points against Finland, they were suddenly more or less into the quarter finals. After that, everything went so quickly.
DFB.de: Despite the disappointment, you are the first German e-players to have represented the country. What can you take from the experience?
MoAuba: It is a great honour to have been chosen out of 21 e-players. And we are very proud to have been able to represent Germany and the DFB in London. The great support and encouragement didn’t go unnoticed – that was really amazing.
DFB.de: Which big tournaments are still up for grabs for you?
MegaBit: In a month’s time, the German championship takes place. And in the summer, the highlight of the season – the individual world championships. In terms of reputation, the individual tournaments are currently bigger than the team competitions. But the eNations Cup that took place at the weekend was the first ever of its kind and I can see big potential in it – that is reflected in the special emotions from the weekend.
[mmc/bh]
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At the FIFA eNations Cup, which took place last weekend in London, they were amongst the favourites. However, the German e-players Mohammed “MoAuba” Harkous and Michael “MegaBit” Bittner were knocked out for the competition in the group stages. DFB.de’s Karl Evers sat down with the pair to discuss reasons for the premature exit and their experiences at the tournament.
DFB.de: Mohammed “MoAuba” Harkous and Michael “MegaBit” Bittner, have you been able to deal with the disappointment of the weekend?
MegaBit: Generally I can reflect on things like this quite quickly, but in hindsight it isn’t easy. More than anything you would want to change everything but unfortunately that’s impossible now. We will analyse our mistakes and come back stronger.
MoAuba: We haven’t yet been able to process exiting the tournament so early. Additionally, the weekend was the first time that we were representing our country and not just playing under our own name, which makes the early elimination even more disappointing.
DFB.de: You previously said that your advantages lie in the two-versus-two mode, because you are experienced together. However, you only won one of the four games you played as a pair. Why is that?
MoAuba: We dominated almost every game, but couldn’t show what we are capable of defensively. As we adopted a very attacking game plan, we made frustrating mistakes and conceded too many goals on the counter attack.
MegaBit: We actually started very well against Norway, and things went as planned. Against Argentina and Brazil, we were a bit too wild. Our pressing didn’t work and we went behind early. From then on we had to try and force goals, which is always difficult.
DFB.de: Do you think that you possibly underestimated your group opposition – especially Brazil, who won the group?
MoAuba: No, definitely not. We knew that we would have a tough group and it was clear beforehand that one of three big teams – Argentina, Brazil and Germany – would be knocked out. In the end it was us.
MegaBit: The fact that France won the tournament just showed how crazy the competition was, especially for the favourites. After the first day, DaXe and Maestro (Lucas “DaXe” Cuillerier and Corentin “Maestro” Thuillier, the two French e-players) didn’t even expect to get through the group stages. But when Saudi Arabia unexpectedly dropped points against Finland, they were suddenly more or less into the quarter finals. After that, everything went so quickly.
DFB.de: Despite the disappointment, you are the first German e-players to have represented the country. What can you take from the experience?
MoAuba: It is a great honour to have been chosen out of 21 e-players. And we are very proud to have been able to represent Germany and the DFB in London. The great support and encouragement didn’t go unnoticed – that was really amazing.
DFB.de: Which big tournaments are still up for grabs for you?
MegaBit: In a month’s time, the German championship takes place. And in the summer, the highlight of the season – the individual world championships. In terms of reputation, the individual tournaments are currently bigger than the team competitions. But the eNations Cup that took place at the weekend was the first ever of its kind and I can see big potential in it – that is reflected in the special emotions from the weekend.
[mmc/bh]
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