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Jun 23, 2008 at 04:29 PM CDT

View Comments: 10

Bazza: Watford Wonder

Posted by: r2k

If I had to name one person who was really passionate about football, it would be none other than Salvo FIFA player Michael 'Bazza' Barrett. Bazza has been training very hard for the second season and is ready to roll. I caught up with him to talk about his past and present of CGS.

Name: Michael Barrett

Age: 18

Alias: Bazza

Location: Watford, England.

Favourites

Music: Mostly indie, Drum n Bass.

The Libertines, The Courteeners, The Metros, The View, DJ Slipperz, J3H5T, Rage Against The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Nas, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Streets, Milburn, DJ Hype, Tapedeck DJ's.

Song(s): Nothing specific

Player(s): Thierry Henry, a living legend.

Sport(s): Football, Golf, Tennis & Table Tennis, Pool, pretty much everything man, EXCEPT cricket. Wasteman's sport.

Game(s): FIFA 06, Halo:CE, Call Of Duty 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, PGR 2.

Food(s): Nothing beat's your mum's cooking surely?

Drink(s): Corona, 1664, Stella, Heineken, Sambuca, Lucozade Orange, Mountain Dew Cherry, Tesco tropical juice drink!

You are one of the senior members in Birmingham Salvo now did you talk to the new Salvo members? What advice does a CGS-experienced player have for the rookies as obviously in the CGS there's more to it than just playing?

Bazza: Yeh I have of course spoken to the new Salvo members, the whole team speaks nearly every day with each other. WilzOOO and Wez are both great additions to the Salvo CSS team, as well as both of them being excellent players, they are both cool guys. Picaso is a top man, an extremely quick racer with a great sense of humour, we are going to have a blast in LA that's for sure. Sarah Lou is also a great addition to the team, she is very skillful, and I think she has settled in nicely.

My advice to a rookie would probably be just to keep plugging away, if you have a dream, then reach for it and don't let anyone stand in your way. Practice hard, focus, and I am sure you will earn your reward someday.

Before we get into the second season, I want to focus on last year. When you heard about this league, what did you think?

Bazza: My immediate thoughts were...was I old enough? At the time I wasn't, and I was gutted because I knew I had what it took to get drafted to such a large organization such as the CGS. It was a while later that I realised they had moved the dates of the combine forward, and the draft was ONE day after my 18th birthday. So I spent my 18th in Birmingham, away from friends and family. A small sacrifice in my opinion for what has turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.

What did you think of the 2007 UK Combine in Birmingham?

Bazza: I thought it was cool, just how I imagined it based on the videos I had watched of the US combine (except we didn't get the playboy mansion! lol). I certainly liked what I saw, and I could see that CGS had a long term plan for this, and it was just the beginning really.

Ricochet, RattlesnK and Bazza at Play.com event at Wembley Stadium
You were then pre-drafted from Birmingham and headed down to London for the Finals and Drafting process. How well did you think you performed then and was you thinking positively on getting drafted?

Bazza: I was certainly positive on getting drafted, I was considerably better than the other UK players there, but at the same time, ChrisyB was a lot more skilled than I was. I did what I needed to do, which was to make the UK final, and lost 2-1 there, so was certainly making improvements on my game, and was just looking forward to the draft really.

As it was the first time for this draft, was there a team out of the two you wanted to go to or?

Bazza: With no disrespect to Sujoy, I definitely wanted to be drafted to ODEE's team. We had met before, I knew he had a great reputation within gaming, and his old team was very successful (Team-Dignitas). He knew what he wanted, but I felt that not just my skills, but my personality would improve under his management. He knows how to get the best out of gamers, which is why I was very pleased London Mint got first pick! ;)

You of course got drafted to Birmingham Salvo, how did you feel when you got announced?

Bazza: Obviously I was very relieved to hear my name being called out, becoming a real professional was something I had dreamed of, but I wasn't focusing on celebrating, I was focused on what I needed to do for Salvo at the UK final.

What did your family and friends think when you got into the CGS?

Bazza: My family were obviously hoping that I would get drafted, they had mixed opinions at the start, but they are obviously really pleased that I was drafted eventually, and so are doing everything they can to support me. My friends at first, and probably still can't believe I am making money from playing games for a living, years ago they used to tell me that I played too many games, now it feels as though they actually play more than I do!

Bazza at Camp Nou, Barcalona's Stadium
You had to face off with London Mint for the Regional Championships and more specifically for you against ChrisyB. You came up with special “Anti-Bully” strategies to prevent your rival from scoring goals. Is this going to be your tactic this year again or do you have something else in mind?

Bazza: I think times have definitely changed since then. Chris in my opinion is one of the best FIFA players in the CGS along with IstvaN/Eafra, and I will of course have a tough job in beating him at the UK finals, but I think this time round, of course there will be strategies, but he will have a lot of problems to deal with from me this time round than before certainly, I am really looking forward to the game that's for sure.

After the UK finals were done with you then headed out to LA for the World Finals, What were your impressions of the whole CGS setup when you first saw it?

Bazza: Obviously I was very impressed with the whole setup, it was all very professional, and the stage was great. I loved it how you would face the crowd who would be supporting your opponent, I thought that was great, the big scoreboard was cool, and the Mountain Dew backstage area was pretty sweet as well.

Could you sum up for me your general experience of the 2007 World Finals and what it meant to you?

Bazza: The 2007 world finals was a great experience for me, I thought I was a little unlucky in some of my games, but on the whole I could not have a single complaint about the whole thing. I think the whole team left LA with pride knowing we did the best against the World Champions, Chicago Chimera, and we can come back this year knowing we can go one better and win the whole thing.

Focusing on this year, the UK and EU Combines were mixed together, what did you think of this idea made by CGS?

Bazza: I thought it was a great idea, it would certainly give the general managers a better view on how the UK players fair against the Europeans. I personally don't think my game would have improved playing against any of the UK players, I love to play the best players, and I hope the tournaments stay like this for the future.

At the Combine you unfortunately lost to Shara in the Quarter Finals and you weren't protected as well. However, ODEE set you up for a Challenge Match against Reidy which you won. What did you think about your chances of getting drafted after all this?

Bazza: Well to be honest, I felt I was really unlucky against Shara, I had beaten him almost every time we had played before in practice, and he scored a 90th minute corner to knock me out of the tournament. This didn't affect me though, I knew I was the better player, but these sort of things happen in tournaments. I continued playing challenge matches, losing only one of them to Manyna 1-0, and so was confident of being re-drafted.

Bazza, ODEE and ChrisyB at FIFA Interactive World Cup UK Qualifiers
Just under a week, you will be heading out once again to LA for the World Finals but first up is the Regional Finals against UK rivals London Mint, How have you been preparing?

Bazza: I have just been training as much as I can to be honest, keeping my defense and concentration as solid as possible. Over the next few days I will adjust my sleeping time to that of Los Angeles, so I do not have any sleeping issues once I arrive. Hopefully these preparations will pay off, it's not long to go now.

What about the other players? Are you preparing every possible scenario of who you could meet in the Final or will you just be “doing your thing”?

Bazza: I have been watching some of the American season, and have been slightly surprised with some of the FIFA games, I haven't been surprised with the way Eafra has been playing, or even Stermy for that matter, he has practised hard it seems, it seems as though some of the players lack any real direction in there play. I have obviously been keeping tabs on what's going on with regards to FIFA, but also teams on the whole. It's going to be very interesting that's for sure, but at the moment my focus is only on the UK final. We must take the UK championship from Mint, and then go from there.

Thanks Bazza, any shout outs to give?

Bazza: I would like to give a shout-out to all of Salvo, Rob, Rhino, BlackAnGreen, Jabz, Dale and Chris. Brap Brap!