The " National eSports Championship 2024 SAGA " was held at SAGA Arena in Saga Prefecture on December 14 and 15, 2024, and the eFootball" In the "eFootball"division," NeoponDA (@NeoponDA ) and Kise_pes (@kise_pes ), representing Saitama Prefecture, won the championship!
The Saitama representative won the "eFootball" division!
On the first day of the tournament, five rounds and semifinals were held by the representatives of each prefecture who won the online qualifying rounds. The final match between the Hokkaido and Saitama representatives who won the semifinals on the first day was held on the second day.
Kaede Sho and Neopon face off in the mobile version!
First, the game starts with the mobile version!
In eFootball, one player from each of the mobile and PlayStation versions will represent their prefecture. The winner will be determined by the total score of the match on each platform.
The second half began with no goals from either side, but in the 66th minute of the second half, the game moved to a goal by Kaede Sho, representing Hokkaido, to go ahead by a goal!
In the mobile version, Hokkaido won 1-0!
In the PlayStation version, the matchup between Jject and Xepez!
In the PlayStation version, it's a showdown between ject and xepes.
The Hokkaido team is leading in the mobile version of the tournament and will be looking to defend their lead in the PlayStation version as well. If the Saitama representatives tie the game in this match, it will be carried over to the third game.
The first 26 minutes of the first half saw JECT take the lead with a single goal! Combined with the mobile version, he leads with a total score of 2 points.
In the 61st minute of the second half, Kisepes scored a goal! It is the first goal for Saitama.
Saitama national team got a goal and got momentum. The Saitama team quickly scored another goal to make the score 1 vs. 2. The total score with the mobile version is now tied.
With about 12 minutes left in the game, Saitama got one more point! The Saitama team is now up against it!
With three minutes of added time remaining, the Hokkaido team was looking for another equalizer and a comeback, but the game was over! Saitama won by 3 to 2!
Xepes: I thought I was strong against adversity before the qualifying round, so even if we got a goal ahead, I thought I could do it, and I was laughing all the time, so I was able to relax that much.
Neopon: These two games really shook me up mentally. Kisepes is really the best.
The winners of the eFootball division had been decided and the awards were about to be handed out.
The presenter of the awards ceremony, Mr. Egashira 2:50, appeared on stage with the words, "This is Egashira-chan! The venue was filled with laughter and excitement.
Egashira 2:50, who learned about the excitement of e-sports at this tournament, declared that he would participate in the tournament next year! Perhaps next year we will be able to see Egashira 2:50 playing.
Mr. Egashira 2:50 presented medals and supplementary prizes.
Interview with the winners, Neopon and Kisepes, representing Saitama Prefecture!
Q. Congratulations on your upset victory! When was the first time you met each other?
It was the first time when we left the day before yesterday. I saw his face on the official website, so I thought it might be him.
Q. I felt that efootball is a kind of psychological warfare.
Rather than turning the other side, if you look at the front, it is soccer, so I needed to think about soccer in real life while incorporating soccer as a game.
Q. Please tell us how you felt at the moment of the red card.
I really felt like I had done something wrong.
Q. There were many heated exchanges.
Xepes: I told Neopon to have fun, and I told him that I would take care of him whether he won or lost. When the "let card" came out, I thought it was for real, but he held the score at 0-1, so I was OK with that.
Neopon: I felt that since I was a front-line player, I would not be able to attack, but I could defend, so I felt that if I could hold them off, that would be good.
Q. You played the important role of supporting each other while your partner was fighting.
Neopon: My partner is the strongest. I had a lot of trust in him.
Xerxes: It was my first tournament, so if I told him to win, he would get nervous and put pressure on me, so I didn't care how much I had to do.
Q. How do you feel now that you have won the championship?
Neopon: I didn't really think about winning at all, I just felt like I was winning. It was frustrating to lose in the finals, so I will practice now and play better next year.
Xerpes: Actually, I won the national championship as a high school student at the 2021 Mie National Championships, but since the high school national championships have been suspended since 2023, I started competing not as a student but with adults last year. I am very happy to have made it this far. My goal this time was to win the high school championship and then the Open Championship, so I am very happy to have won.
Q. What are your hopes for next year?
Neopon: Next year, I want to win the championship by myself.
Xepes: Winning the national championship is not the end of the story. I have achieved the first of my goals, which is to win the eJ League and the eFootball Open, the world championships that come after this. I think the eJ League will come next in terms of timing, so my current goal is to win the eJ League, win the eFootball Open, and achieve the triple crown, so I will switch to the next step and do my best again.