By Alain Quinto

East Coast Champion: Nenad Stojkovic
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Age: 22
Team used: Manchester United
Location: Inner Harbor Baltimore, MD
 
The scenic backdrop of the Baltimore Inner Harbor provided a wonderful location for the final US qualifier of the FIWC 2009. Players were waiting in line hours before registration began, all with hopes of making it to the finals in New York, where they could be crowned FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 North American Champion and win the all-expenses-paid trip for two to Barcelona, Spain.

Nenad Stojkovic and Nick Casillas had been telling everyone within earshot of the Inner Harbor that they were the best FIFA players in the world and after this tournament everyone would know why. Keeping true to their word, both players advanced to the finals and would settle the debate as to who the best player was.

Manchester United was the team of choice for Nenad, while Nick was using Brazil on his quest for the FIWC 2009 Baltimore Regional Championship.

Brazil, known for their speed and high-powered attack, got on the board early when they scored the first goal of the game at the three-minute mark. The crowd in Baltimore erupted with a chant of GOAL!!!! Nenad calmly turned toward the crowd and said that would be the last goal the Brazilian team would score. Not to be outdone by his counterpart, Nenad put together a counter strike of his own and evened the game at 1-1. Nick felt the momentum swinging in Nenad's favour, so he went on the attack. After a botched corner-kick attempt, Nick tried to slip a right-footed redirect past the goalkeeper. Nenad and Manchester United's defence rose to the occasion, not only stopping the Brazilian offensive but answering back with another goal by Ronaldo right before the half.

Trailing 2-1, Brazil began to press on offense.  Bringing his midfielders up proved to be very costly for Nick as he gave up another goal to Ronaldo. With the lead now at 3-1 Nenad's entourage began to chant NEW YORK!! NEW YORK!! NEW YORK!! Nick was now facing two opponents, Manchester United and the game clock, as time was running out on his bid to become the Baltimore Regional winner. Some in the crowd were wondering if Nick would pull the goalkeeper to gain a numbers advantage, but Nick stuck with his original game plan and tried to use his team speed. United were ready in all aspects. After the Manchester goalkeeper stopped a shot from a Brazilian forward, he booted it out to an open Wayne Rooney who found a streaking Ronaldo for his 4th goal of the game. With this game clearly under control, the Manchester United team added one more goal for safe keeping and 5-1 would be the score that secured the win for Nenad and the title of Baltimore Regional FIFA Interactive World Cup winner. He will now go on to compete on 4 April at the SONY Wonderlab in New York at the North American FIWC finals.

West Coast Conference Finalists
•    Mike Eapinoza
•    Ivan Lopez
•    Dan Meyers

East Coast Conference Finalists
•    Nenad Stojkovic
•    Nick Casillas
•    Amir Nassar

Online Finalists
•    Giuseppe Guastella
•    Michael LaBelle