FIFA Pro Qualifier Ruined By An Untimely Bug

A pro FIFA player has been taken out of the running for the North American qualifiers for the FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Cup ... thanks to a ridiculous bug in FIFA 20. This is the annoying nightmare currently faced by gamer Giuseppe Guastella, who took to Twitter to air his grievances with EA.

It's a genuinely infuriating thing to watch as the clip uploaded by Guastella shows an instant replay of him clearly making the goal. The ball bounces off the inside of the goal post and hits the net. The net can literally be seen moving as the ball comes to a rest, particularly during the slowed down and zoomed in replay clip. And yet, the player character begins to hang his head in shame, his big chance having somehow slipped from his grasp.

Adding insult to injury is the sound of the in-game announcer seemingly mocking the fact that the game has cheated Guastella: "Opportunity squandered and that ends it," the narrator shouts. "Oh, no, I feel for him."

The craziest thing about this is that EA has sided with the clearly mistaken game in this instance. According to a tweet from Guastella, "Admins told me if the game confirms it was not a goal we have to obey the games decision."

Imagine this happening with any other game. Think of a pro Mortal Kombat 11 player pulling off a Fatality at this year's Final Kombat tournament. Their character of choice is standing among a sea of broken limbs, but the game's narrator says, "You lose." In what world would NetherRealm just kind of shrug and say, "Yeah, it sure seems like you lost, bud. Sorry."

Along with the video of the incident, Guastella tweeted, "EA needs to fix theses [sic] serious issues with the game. I'm such a passionate player, and compete in this game to my full potential! But how can anyone take the game seriously when EA can't take the game seriously and fix these elementary school issues? If this was any other top-tier professional competing in another esports game things like this wouldn't happen!"

The responses to Guastalla's plight have been very supportive, with many fans expressing utter disbelief at this call. One fan took EA to task for their seeming indifference towards their fans, tweeting, "Electronic Arts do not care about it's playerbase, or incorrect tournament rulings/cheating."

Fellow pro players have also weighed in on the situation, with Alfonso Cuevas tweeting, "this is madness and unreal." Perhaps the most frustrating thing of all was pointed out by LA-based FIFA player Martin Oregel, who wrote that even the opponent that Guastella was up against disagreed with the ruling. When the person who stands to benefit the most from your failure thinks that you've been given an unfair loss, then maybe that's the time to listen.

This isn't the first time a pro gamer has had a major issue with FIFA 20. In fact, just recently, Fnatic Tekkz found himself unable to bask in the glow of victory at FUT Champions Cup IV Paris. During a post-game interview, Fnatic Tekkz candidly explained, "Because this year's game is so unrewarding, anyone can win, guys who aren't good can win on FIFA 20 ... no one enjoys playing [FIFA 20]."

One pro player, Kurt0411, found the game to be so unenjoyable and infuriating that he essentially ruined his career going after EA for its perceived wrongs. Kurt0411's ire toward the company spiraled out of control when he encouraged his followers to harass EA employees. Kurt0411 received one of EA's harshest bans in history for his actions. While this is clearly an extreme case of a disgruntled gamer, the fact remains that FIFA 20 is full of issues.

In fact, it's true that FIFA 20 has been plagued with bugs since its 2019 launch. They were so numerous that the hashtag #FixCareerMode began trending on Twitter after the game was released. Players have taken issue with everything from the in-game physics to glitches in cutscenes and team configurations. Whether or not this is a high profile enough issue for EA to sit up and finally make some changes remains to be seen. Unfortunately for FIFA fans, given EA's shady history with responding to player concerns, it's unlikely that this will be a swift fix.

Then again, even if the game can't be patched any time soon, it would be great to see Guastella getting another chance at the Cup. This is somehow weirder and more annoying than that time Spider-Man broke a game by webbing a basketball through the hoop.