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Developers World Championship: Match Report - Australia v Serbia (Group D)

Flight Control (Australia) vs Golman (Serbia)

Developers World Championship: Match Report - Australia v Serbia (Group D)
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AUSTRALIA Flight Control (Firemint)

VS SERBIA Golman (Eipix)

David Beckham may only be in South Africa this month as a glorified cheerleader for the England football team, yet by day he normally goes by the moniker ‘The World’s Most Famous Footballer’. Fashion icon, gay icon, iTunes icon, you name it, he’s worn it.

The App Store’s very own David Beckham is, of course, Flight Control, the game that spawned an entire genre (line drawing, in case you’ve been living in a cave or North Korea lately) and made bucketloads, I presume, for its developer, Firemint.

And, boy, did Australia need the assistance of its talismanic winger right about now!

Sitting less than comfortably on three points at the start of play and with a vastly inferior goal difference to direct rivals Hong Kong, Flight Control had to reach for the skies and beyond this evening to ensure Australian survival in the Pocket Gamer outback.

Appropriately enough for a (faintly)-football related Championship, Serbia’s director of soccer had selected Golman for its final group match. For the eastern Europeans the challenge was equally simple: so long as Eipix’s penalty shoot out challenge game avoided defeat, Serbia would top its table and face the runner-up from Group C over the weekend.

Kick Off: 7.30pm, 23rd June

The critical view: In the face of adversity, you can either sink or swim. Well, in the first 20 minutes of this potential humdinger, Ian Thorpe AND Michael Phelps would have struggled to paddle faster than the electric Flight Control.

With over 2 million sales and, more importantly for this opening period, both a Silver Award and a highly prestigious 5/5 score from Apple bible Macworld, the Aussie flyer was reaching hyperspace speeds down Golman's right wing.

Directing operations from up high in the VIP tower, the suspended Australian coach was delighted to see its zippy fighters get on the end of not one, but two, crosses midway through the half, proving its undisputed brilliance in the air and easing Firemint's charges into a comfortable advantage.

Although an absolute demon when facing from the penalty spot, Serbia’s AI-controlled Golbot was living up to his Dracula nickname for being considerably less comfortable with crosses, only its cynical push challenges keeping the score respectable.

43 minutes in, though, and the pressure told once more: Flight Control’s multiplayer wall passes over local wi-fi and Bluetooth creating a clear path on goal for the attacking midfielder who'd traced a clever run to the edge of the box and successfully landed a cracker in the bottom corner.

Half time: Australia 3 – 0 Serbia The Fans’ 45: Clearly impressed by Serbia's strong showing hitherto at the iPhone Game Developers World Champs and feeling upbeat despite the first half score, the Balkan state's fiercely partisan countrymen were in full effect after the interval.

Golman's online leaderboards and smack talk were serving as vital inspiration to the Serbian fans, who propelled the side to a response just minutes after the restart. This was precisely what the Aussies didn't want and with most of its fanbase tucked up in bed, the team began to look increasingly nervous.

The defending got deeper and more desperate as the half progressed until the 75th minute when a desperate lunge from one of their back-line 'choppers cut down the Serbian striker and left them with a chance to score from the penalty spot. Suffice to say, the opportunity was taken with relish to bring Eipix's app back within striking distance.

As the clock ticked on, literally everyone was packed into the Australians' half and even the two jumbo defenders Firemint had brought on to circle the box failed to completely stem the Serbian tide.

Hence, it was no surprise that in the dying seconds, a unique piece of customisation on the part of the Serbian striker - a colour change of boot and the introduction of an Orlando Pirates' style eye patch - opened the Aussies up once more.

Turning on the edge of the 18 yard box, the beanpole figure deceived all 10 of Flight Control's outfield aircraft and equalised to send the attendant Serbs into a delirious tailspin.

Serbia had qualified as Group D winners, but Australia's fate was now to be decided entirely by the outcome of Hong Kong v Germany...anything other than a defeat for the East-Asians would see Firemint's side heading down the runway for all the wrong reasons.

Full time: Australia 3 – 3 Serbia Latest Group Tables - Fixtures & Voting - Squads

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Richard Brown
Richard Brown
With a degree in German up his sleeve Richard squares up to the following three questions every morning: FIFA or Pro Evo? XBox 360 or PS3? McNulty or Bunk?