Interview with Yannis “LIMOOX”, Vitality representative at the “Pro for a Day” PlayStation tournament
His name is Yannis Chalal, he is 18 years old and lives in Saint-Étienne. A recent FIFA player for the OneX Esport team, he plays under the pseudonym LIMOOX. Last month, by participating in the “Pro for a Day” PlayStation tournaments, he became a Vitality player for the duration of a tournament, an experience he agreed to revisit for us in a short interview.
– How long have you been playing FIFA?
I started very young, as I have been playing FIFA since I was 6 years old, which means I have been playing it for two-thirds of my life. It came quite naturally to me, as I am passionate about football, and FIFA quickly became a natural choice.
– You are a player for an organization, you already have some experience, which competitions have you participated in?
I had the opportunity to participate in the French championship in 2020, the eLigue 2020. I qualified as a representative of ASSE, the club in my city. My very first LAN tournament was Gamers Assembly in Poitiers in 2019, but I also remember a great 4th place finish at Occitanie Esports, also in 2019.
– During which qualifier did you manage to win your place in the Vitality final?
During the second qualifier, I won my place in the Vitality final.
– How did your journey go in the first part of the tournament to become the representative of Team Vitality?
I won my place in the Vitality final during the 2nd qualifier. During the first match of the final, I got scared because of a bug that prevented me from having the lineup I wanted to play with, but I managed to get away with a narrow 1-0 win. I also had a few scares during the 2nd match, since I was trailing 2-0 until the 72nd minute before making a comeback.
The rest was a bit easier, until the final, which was a bit of a strange match. I took the lead in the first half despite being dominated, then I also conceded in the 2nd half while dominating. We had to go to penalties despite some great chances in extra time. In the end, I manage to win on a penalty by Gueye, I will remember that one haha.
– How did the national final go? Your journey, your feelings about your 2nd place?
Unfortunately, I fell at the first match, in a bit of a crazy scenario. I score at the beginning of the match, but the goal is disallowed for offside. I concede a goal immediately after. I managed to equalize, but a slightly weird clearance at the end of the match cost me dearly and I no longer had time to come back. I still managed to stay focused on what was next and to raise my level of play enough to get through, despite the lack of success at times, to secure this 2nd place.
– What do you take away from this experience? What does it feel like to be able to say that you played a tournament on your favorite game as a Team Vitality player?
It is truly a chance and a pride to represent the biggest organization in the world, I know that many people would have liked to be in my place. Since I have been following the competition, I always had it in my mind to play for Vitality, to be able to represent them on FIFA. It is a very strong symbol for me to have been able to share my passions, which are football and esports, by playing under the colors of the world reference that is Vitality.