The Verde Report: Austin FC’s xVERDE Competes in eMLS Cup at SXSW

John Bitsoe Garcia, aka xVERDE (Courtesy of Austin FC)

Austin has played host to some of the biggest soccer events in the nation over the past 10 months, including a women's national team friendly and a men's World Cup qualifier. On Sunday, March 13, the city welcomes a new dimension of footy as the battleground moves from the Q2 Stadium pitch to the Moody Theater stage.

The Downtown venue known for hosting Austin City Limits will transform into a souped-up e-sports arena for the 2022 eMLS Cup, a one-day tournament pitting North America's best EA Sports FIFA 22 gamers – each representing a different Major League Soccer club – against each other for $35,000 in prize money and the title of best virtual soccer star on the continent.

The free, open-to-the-public event cracks its doors at 2pm and concludes with the championship match at 5:30pm. If 3½ hours of watching other people play video games seems like a lot, MLS promises plenty of in-person activations to keep attendees engaged. Among them: an open FIFA 22 tournament for fans, customizable jerseys and FIFA Ultimate Team player cards, an Adidas sneaker giveaway, and an afterparty featuring live music.

The Verde and Black are firmly in the hunt to take home the trophy thanks to John Bitsoe Garcia, aka xVERDE, the club's eMLS representative since 2021. Garcia made the semifinal round of last year's remote edition of the eMLS Cup and enters Sunday's tournament as the 11th seed. The 26-year-old pro gamer spoke to the Chronicle this week while ramping up his screen time in preparation for the grand final.

"Usually before tournaments I play a lot more than usual, because if I played this amount year-round, I'd experience burnout pretty fast," he said. "It's all about managing the mental aspect of the game. Everyone that's involved in these kinds of tournaments is capable of winning, like, skillwise, and the mental game in FIFA is the major decisive factor."

Garcia's origin story is wonderfully relatable for anyone who's fired up FIFA on a Friday night with their buddies. The first edition of the game he owned was FIFA 10, with Manchester United's Wayne Rooney on the cover. "I mostly played with friends online, and they were significantly better than me," Garcia said. "And that's kind of what got me hooked on the game. I just wanted to get better and better so I could actually beat them." He eventually found his way to Ultimate Team, the game mode where users can build squads featuring the world's best players and compete with them in online tournaments. Things got serious from there.

Much like Austin FC's on-field players, Garcia was recruited from a previous club and is signed to a professional contract. The Moreno Valley, Calif., native – previously known as xbLeU – represented his hometown LA Galaxy in competitions from 2019 until 2021, when the upstart Oaks came calling for his services. In fact, Sunday's tournament will mark Garcia's first-ever trip to Austin.

Even from afar, though, xVERDE has been an avid watcher and supporter of Austin FC, and he plans to use the Verde fans in attendance to his advantage. "I want my opponent to be pressured by everything that's going on. Like, if I'm pressuring him heavily in-game and he's already [feeling] pressure from the environment ... he's going to start thinking about everything and then he's going to start stressing."

Since eMLS players use their Ultimate Teams rather than the rosters of the clubs they represent, it will be Cristiano Ronaldo, not Sebastián Driussi, leading the lines for Garcia's Oaks. "Hopefully I come out with some pretty cool goals."

After all, isn't that what video games are for?

Find Eric Goodman’s recap of Austin’s 5-1 win over Inter Miami CF at austinchronicle.com/austin-fc.