When it comes to sports games, no EA Sports franchise had a bigger weekend at EA Play than the soccer behemoth that is FIFA. In a piece of news that excited soccer gamers all over the globe, EA Sports announced that the latest edition of the game, FIFA 19, will include the biggest club tournament in the world, the Champions League.
It’s news that ramped up the usual anticipation the comes with the FIFA franchise, and fans of the game made it a point to circle the Sept. 28 release date on their calendars. Among those fans are Chicago Fire and United States midfielder Dax McCarty, who was in attendance for the event in Los Angeles. In addition to attending the event, McCarty and FIFA influencer ZwebackHD took on LAFC midfielder Lee Nguyen and FIFA influencer Castro1021. By the time the dust settled, Nguyen and Castro1021 walked off the virtual pitch with a 2-0 win.
In the midst of all this, McCarty spoke to Uproxx Sports on Sunday about the upcoming edition of the game, his experiences with the FIFA franchise, the 2018 World Cup, and the United States Men’s National Team’s 1-1 draw against France from Saturday afternoon.
Uproxx Sports: What are you doing out at EA Play?
Dax McCarty: We’re out here, myself and Lee Nguyen. We’re just enjoying it, man. We’re just enjoying it, we’re out here getting the new version and seeing all the people out here that are planning to do the World Cup 2018 version. Super cool, we’re out here in the LA Palladium. We’re just basically in awe of all of these unbelievable FIFA players out here, how many people come together for the beautiful game. EA Sports just continues to raise the bar, I think, when it comes to online sports, online gaming. It’s just different level, so to be out here, to be a part of it is a pleasure.
Obviously the big announcement yesterday was Champions League coming to the game. What aspect of that excites you the most, and how pumped up were you when you got to find out that next year’s game will have that unique experience for Champions League matches?
It’s unbelievable. Like I said, they continue to raise the bar. Knowing that all the best teams from all the different leagues around the world are going to be able to play against each other, I think it’s going to bring a whole different element to the game of FIFA, so I’m really impressed by the level that they continue to raise. I think when you have your league seasons and teams playing each other, the same teams playing each other all of the time, I don’t want to say it can get a little boring, but maybe it gets a little bit stale. You want to have that adrenaline rush, and that feeling of being able to play Manchester United against Bayern Munich, and the real feel of a Champions League game is truly unbelievable.
We hear across basically every sport that athletes love playing that sport’s signature video game. Have you noticed that to be true with FIFA and MLS and national team players?
I have. I think when it comes to soccer players, especially, obviously we can’t get enough of FIFA. We can’t get enough of playing against each other. I always tell all my friends it’s truly unbelievable. I can tell my friends and my kids that I’ve been playing professional soccer for 13 years. I’ve been on 13 different video games. How cool is that, you know. I even think that players from different sports, whether it’s NFL, NBA, MLB players, I have a feeling, and this is just a gut feeling, but it’s also stuff I’ve seen online, that all those guys enjoy playing FIFA the most out of everything.
I think soccer is such a unique sport, its fluidity, the fact that coaches have such little control once the game actually starts. You can adjust things a little bit tactically, but at the end of the day, the game is so fluid and the game is so open. It’s not like other sports, and I think other athletes from other sports appreciate that a lot, because their sports are very slowed down. You have time outs, you have unlimited substitutions. It’s just such a unique game in the overall scope of world competition that I think everyone can all come together and agree that FIFA is one of the best sports to play in gaming.
There was a story last year where LeBron James was testing out some new teammates with an NBA video game. Have you ever found FIFA to be a resource for testing out new teammates, new surroundings, new tactics, those sorts of things?
Maybe when it comes to the banter. I think that’s the best thing that video games does, not only does it brings out those competitive juices, because as athletes we’re hyper-competitive, highly competitive whether we’re on the field or off the field, we’re incredibly competitive people. So when we’re not on the field, the only release for our competitive juices is playing FIFA, playing video games. So I love it when I can banter with you guys, with new teammates, old teammates. The banter is always the best part of being in the locker room, having that camaraderie with the guys. Ultimately, I think that it can make your locker room stronger. It brings guys closer together. So that’s obviously just one of the many positives that FIFA brings to a locker room.
Who are the best American footballers when it comes to FIFA, whether it’s guys you played against or guys you’ve heard are just really good on the sticks?
It’s always the young guys, the young up and coming crowd. I think a guy who I have seen and heard is really good is Ale Bedoya, but then the other young guys like Jordan Morris, guys like Cristian Roldan. I know Matt Miazga is a big gamer, plays FIFA a lot. These are guys that I’ve heard are really good, I haven’t seen it, quite, with my own eyes yet, but it’s pretty scary, I think, how much these guys are on the sticks.
Everyone has that one good FIFA story where the game gets a little intense and ends up becoming unforgettable, that kind of thing. Do you have that with any teammates that you had over the course of your career?
You know what? None incredible, memorable stories with teammates, but with my brother, certainly. My brother, the reason I am so competitive is because I grew up in a household with a brother who’s 17 months younger than me, so the competition in our household was fierce. I can tell you right now, off the top of my head there’s not just one story. There’s multiple stories of us playing FIFA and having disagreements on little things. Like I said, the banter gets a little out of control where my parents have had to come in and break up a little scuffle. So, you know, that’s always fun. That’s part of the reason I developed such a highly competitive attitude from an early age.
Moving on to the national team really quickly, I do want to ask about yesterday.
Sure.
I don’t know about you, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw them go out and get a draw against basically the XI that I think France is going to throw out during the World Cup.
Oh, no question.
What stuck out about that friendly?
What stuck out was the fearlessness with which the young guys play. I think that’s always such a touchy subject when it comes to playing a lot of young players against a really established world-class team, are they going to be nervous? Are they going to step on the field and show France too much respect? That was something that I was really worried about. Five minutes into the game, you could tell that these guys were ready. You could tell that they play with no fear. I think the coaching staff did a great job of preparing the guys tactically, but they stepped on the field and they showed no fear. They were highly competitive, they worked hard. They showed moments of skill, they showed moments of organization. But at the highest level, anyone will tell you at the highest level if you don’t bring that element of fearlessness onto the field, world-class opponents and players, they will sense that. A team like France can take advantage of that. Our young guys showed no fear, and that was the thing that impressed me most.
Yeah, you saw against Ireland a few days ago the downside of playing too much youth. But I have to imagine that it’s really, really cool watching that fearlessness, that excitement, that desire to go out and get it being on display against France.
It was amazing. It was amazing to see. I think that the future in this country with soccer is really bright. I think that there’s no question the disappointment that was shared throughout our country when we didn’t qualify for the World Cup. That’s something that us as players will have to live with for the rest of our lives. But I think that there’s a renewed sense of optimism, especially with all the young talent we have coming through. I’ve seen it firsthand with guys like Matt Miazga and Tyler Adams, I’ve seen how talented they are. Going through these games, going through these experiences is only going to make them better when the games really start counting. I think the future of soccer in this country is really bright.
That’s actually something I want to ask, because you’re not the “old guard,” but you’ve been in the national team program for a while, especially during Bruce Arena’s last stint. There’s a bit of a debate over the best way for the U.S. to proceed with an eye on the World Cup in 2022, and I want to know, do you think it’s to let these young guys to grow up and make mistakes by going through highs and lows, keep rolling with the dudes who’ve been around who are a little bit more experienced and know what to expect, or is it somewhere in the middle?
For me, I think it’s somewhere in the middle. I think that you have to temper expectations a little bit, because young players are young players for a reason. They have a long way to go, they’re not fully developed. There’s a lot of unrealized potential with them. I think the most crucial thing when trying to develop that talent, cultivate that talent and that potential, is you need the right leaders. You need the right leadership, you need the right experience around them. I don’t think any teams have ever been successful where they’re just a team full of young guys or a team full of old guys. I think you have to strike that balance, because you need to have that young, youthful energy and talent to go along with experience, guys that have played at the highest level for a long time. I think if you can marry those two types of players and cultivate that balance in the locker room, I think that’s when teams are most successful.
I think it’s a tricky one to navigate. Obviously we don’t have a competitive game coming up here for the next couple of years, so you want to use that to give younger players experience. You also need to make sure that if there’s a guy that maybe is a little bit older, and he is, I don’t want to say on the downside of his career, but a guy on maybe the wrong side of 30 that’s performing at a really high level in Europe or in MLS, you’d have to say that if he’s earned an opportunity and earned a chance that you would like to see him get that chance and not just have it be taken away from him because he’s a little bit older. So it’s a balance. You have to strike a balance.
Are there any younger dudes, whether they be from yesterday or just in general, who you are especially excited about? I mean, obviously, there’s Christian Pulisic, but anyone beyond him.
Yeah, I mean there’s numerous guys that I’m really excited about, numerous guys that I’ve played with. Tyler Adams, I think everyone can admit that they’re always excited about a guy like that, a guy that seems like he has got limitless potential. A tremendous worker, a tremendous engine. His physical tools are world-class, now it’s just can he develop the tactical and technical parts of his game to match already his world-class athleticism, He’s a guy I’m really interested to see where his career goes.
There’s a guy that I play with on Chicago Fire who I’m really impressed with, and I was really impressed with last year, named Djordje Mihailovic. He’s a guy that’s been involved with the youth national teams for a while and tore his ACL last year after he had a really bright season for us. So I’m really excited to get him back healthy and contributing. He’s a different type of player than what we have, he’s an attack-minded player, he’s a player that likes to play in between the lines. He’s not very athletic, but he’s got a great eye for the game. He plays one and two touch, he’s creative, he’s active. He’s a guy who I’m really excited to see hopefully flourish in the future.
Let’s just look at the World Cup. Who’s your pick to win, because I have to admit, mine is France, and I’m not feeling especially great about it right now.
I tell you what, man, France, they didn’t look like World Cup champions against the U.S. I think that France is a good pick because they have unbelievable talent. I think they’re probably the most talented players in the world. But you have to match that with a tactical plan, because if you have a bunch of talented guys running around the field without good tactics, you’re going to struggle. So I think that against the U.S., the U.S. exposed some of their flaws. They’re going to have trouble breaking down defenses that are compact and tight, that play five in the back. I’ll be interested to see how France goes throughout the tournament.
My pick to win the World Cup is a team that people probably don’t love a ton, because they’re over-relying on one player, but I’m going with Argentina. I think that Lionel Messi is the greatest player to ever live. I’m very firm in my belief in that, and I have no doubt in my mind that if he’s playing at his best, if he’s playing at the level that he’s been playing with in Barcelona for the past year, that Argentina has a great chance to win the tournament. I also selfishly would love them to win, because I hate the argument that people use against Messi that he hasn’t won a World Cup, he hasn’t won a major tournament with Argentina, so he can’t be the greatest of all time. I don’t like that argument, so I hope he wins the World Cup just specifically for that reason.
I’m completely there with you. Last question, with the FIFA 18 World Cup update, are there any clubs that you especially enjoy using in that?
I really enjoy playing with Germany. That’s kind of a default answer, I would say, because they’re one of the best teams in the game. I just love the different combinations that you can use with their team. I’m trying to practice for the future if I want to be a coach, so my tactics with them, you can play them in literally any formation and you have a wealth of talent at your disposal. You can play with three in the back, you can play 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2. With the talent that they have, it’s just amazing and it’s fun to be able to mess around with all that.
