The FC Pro Open’s penultimate group saw Vejrgang and AbuMakkah join Emre Yilmaz, Umut, PHzin and Young in the FC Pro Open Quarter Finals.

ManuBachoore, seanldw and AntoniniGabriel also had their moments as Group C came to a close, so here is what we learned from Match Week 7.

Standout

There were times in Match Week 7 where Vejrgang shouted “sit down”, but his performances will have made people stand up and take notice. The RBLZ Gaming player recorded three wins and a draw, as was also the case in Match Week 3, leaving him on a tournament-high 20 points.

Vejrgang commanded attention from his first game right through to the last, opening with a 6-2 victory over ManuBachoore and ending with a 5-2 win against second-placed AbuMakkah. His usual antics were also on display to ensure viewers remained entertained throughout - if the FC Pro action wasn’t already enough to do that.

Young will likely be searching for any weaknesses in the Dane’s game ahead of their Quarter Final meeting. Vejrgang conceded against AntoniniGabriel and seanldw after overplaying at the back - with the latter of those costing the Dane his perfect record in Match Week 7 - but the pressure was already off, so it’s unlikely we’ll see that on February 3rd.

Watch out for AbuMakkah

It seems as though AbuMakkah is somebody who can go under the radar. That was arguably even the case going into this Match Week, with most discussions in the build-up revolving around Vejrgang and ManuBachoore.

Perhaps the Team Falcons player’s understated nature plays into that, with it being very rare to get any sort of reaction out of him - a stark contrast to the far more animated Vejrgang. 

While AbuMakkah might not offer much to watch with his expressions, the Saudi Arabian certainly does through his gameplay, and everybody should be watching. That was proven when he beat seanldw 6-1, went 6-0 up against AntoniniGabriel inside 42 minutes and scored a superb goal to take a point from ManuBachoore.

Keeping within distance

ManuBachoore put in an impressive display in Match Week 7, but the Dutchman’s disappointing return in Match Week 3 resulted in a gap so wide that he never truly threatened the top two. This offers an insight into the challenge Tekkz faces in Match Week 8 if he is to qualify.

With that aside, there were plenty of positives for the Team Gullit player to take from his evening’s work. One of the biggest was the professionalism that ManuBachoore showed to deliver some impressive performances despite his situation.

He started the Match Week with a dominant 8-3 win over AntoniniGabriel, before a frustrating defeat against Vejrgang took the eWorld Cup winner out of contention. Even so, he earned a draw against AbuMakkah and ended by defeating seanldw 7-2.

Moments of encouragement

Seanldw had some tough times in Match Week 7, starting with a 6-1 defeat against AbuMakkah and losing 7-2 to ManuBachoore in his final match.

Despite that, the Bayer Leverkusen player had some brilliant moments during the evening, with each of his first four goals being brilliant to watch, including a free-kick and trivela with Alexia Putellas.

Then there was the draw against Vejrgang. It would have been easy for the German’s head to drop when he went 2-0 down or when he was losing with moments to go, but he instead kept competing and equalised in the 93rd minute to become the only player to take a point from the Dane on the evening. The experience should also help when he returns next year after taking fourth place.

Battling spirit

It was a difficult evening for AntoniniGabriel, who lost all four of his fixtures in Match Week 7 to finish bottom of Group C. He was one of the least experienced players to reach the FC Pro Open and will undoubtedly take his own lessons from the contests.

A positive sign is his battling spirit, which helped to ensure the Italian avoided complete humiliation on certain occasions. The biggest example of that comes from his final match, in which the EKO player found himself 6-0 down against AbuMakkah in the 42nd minute. He carried on and scored before half time, then brought the scoreline back to a far more respectable 7-5.

AntoniniGabriel also has his win against ManuBachoore in Match Week 3 to remember, alongside the experiences that will help the Italian continue his upward trajectory.