The FC Pro Open has officially started as Group A kicked off on November 27. In the five rounds of matches, there were a massive 83 goals and heaps of entertainment. Anybody watching could also take lessons from those they were watching, and here we run through four of them.

Leading pair

The feeling ahead of Emre Yilmaz’s meeting with Umut was that this match-up could easily be a final. It was the Team Gullit player who was named Player of the Day, but points are king in this format and the two couldn’t be separated.

Umut struck first just nine minutes into their thrilling draw thanks to composed play and a simple finish from Ronaldinho. However, Emre Yilmaz equalised in the final seconds of the first half and then edged ahead almost immediately after the break.

The Dutchman then masterfully carved out a goal that was clinically finished by Heung-min Son to make the score 3-1, but Umut came back defiantly with two goals from Kylian Mbappe to level the scores again.

RBLZ’s Umut then ruthlessly punished a mistake to take the lead with 10 minutes remaining, but Emre Yilmaz scored the game’s final goal four minutes later to make it 4-4 – doing so with one of many goals to be scored by Mbappe across the group.

Umut sat out the second round of matches while Emre Yilmaz convincingly beat Lukas 7-3. The Dutchman recorded an even bigger victory in the third round, overcoming Mark11 6-1, while Umut edged past his fellow German Lukas with a 2-1 win.

They both won by two-goal margins in the fourth round, which was Emre Yilmaz’s last match and confirmed his tally of 10 points. Umut then joined the Team Gullit man on 10 points thanks to an action-packed 8-5 win over H1dalgo.

Emre Yilmaz tops the group, with his goal difference being five better than that of the RBLZ representative in Group A. All of the above proves that it is likely to be the finest of margins that separate these two competitors, both when they face off again on January 8 and if they meet further in the tournament.

Box office H1dalgo

Not only did H1dalgo’s match against Ollelito earn him a place at the FC Pro Open, it was arguably the most dramatic game of the entire Qualifier. There are no signs of the Somah Esports player slowing down the entertainment now that he is in the Group Stages.

Nobody in Group A was involved in more goals than the 37 in the Spaniard’s matches, as he scored 19 and conceded 18.

There was also an unpredictability to his goals, with some being absolute beauties while others were scrappy – including one that left Mark11 visibly frustrated. That was also the case with the goals conceded, as he was guilty of making some costly errors.

Perhaps the number of goals for and against H1dalgo won’t help his chances of progressing – as he already sits four points behind the leading pair – but they sure made him enjoyable to watch.

He opened the tournament with a 4-3 win over Lukas before inflicting a 7-2 demolition on Mark11 to start in style. The two following matches resulted in defeats but were still filled with goals, as H1dalgo was beaten 5-3 and 8-5 by Emre Yilmaz and Umut respectively.

Lukas’ determination

Lukas left plenty of people shocked just to reach this stage and recorded some incredibly impressive wins in the Qualifier, including an 8-6 win over Emre Yilmaz in the Swiss Stage and back-to-back wins in the Knockout Stages.

The F.C. Hansa Rostock player had a tough time in Group A at the Open, though, and he was left visibly frustrated at times. The German endured defeats in each of his first three matches, being beaten 4-3 by H1dalgo, 7-3 by Emre Yilmaz and 2-1 by Umut.

After having his break in the fourth round of matches to regroup, he then came up against fellow struggler Mark11 in the evening’s final round of matches. It would have been easy to let the run of negative results continue, although there was a steely determination to Lukas which helped to ensure that didn't happen.

Having gone 2-0 up, he conceded shortly before half time but still didn't panic and scored three unanswered goals in the second half to earn a commanding 5-1 victory.

Progression through the group remains near-impossible despite that win, but it shows plenty of the characteristics that the 20-year-old will look to take forward in this tournament and the rest of his esports career.

Mark11 struggles to adapt

As the only player in Group A to earn automatic qualification to the FC Pro Open, Mark11 is also the only one who hadn't played a competitive match in FC 24 before appearing at this tournament.

It was always going to be intriguing to see how the FUTWIZ player adapted to the new title but the signs were worrying as he suffered defeat in all four matches played.

An additionally concerning sign was how heavy some of those defeats were, as he started with a 7-2 loss against H1dalgo, which was followed by a 6-1 loss against Emre Yilmaz.

There were glimpses of improvement against Umut despite the 7-5 loss, but he finished with a heavy 5-1 defeat at the hands of Lukas.

Following a tough day for the Australian, FUTWIZ tweeted: "It happens - lots of things didn't go our way and we'll have to come back in January to make the most of the situation."

It is worth remembering the quality that Mark11 showed last season, as it was his place in the 2023 eWorld Cup final that got him here in the first place, and there is time for him to adapt to put in an improved performance when Group A plays again on January 8.

There could also now be extra attention on how the other automatic qualifiers PHzin, ManuBachoore and Obrun perform in their first matches at the FC Pro Open.