Tijuana Xolos EA Sports FIFA 18 Video Game Player Ratings

The latest installment of EA Sports’s virtual soccer game, FIFA, hit the market this Friday.

FIFA 18 has officially hit the shelves and here is a look at what ratings the Tijuana Xolos’ players received in the latest installment of the franchise.

To put the ratings in perspective, the highest rated player in the game is Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo with a 94 rating. Not far behind him is another contender for the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, coming in with a 93 rating. The highest rated player in the Liga MX is Tigres UANL’S French striker, Andre-Pierre Gignac, with a rating of 81. The ratings do fluctuate based on performance from time to time to time, but here are the ratings at the time of writing this article.

Goalkeepers

Both Gibran Lajud and Jose Antonio Rodriguez hold a rating of 69, which is a bit harsh, especially to Lajud. The young keeper held the same rating in FIFA 17 and deserved an upgrade based on his performance throughout the Clausura 2017 tournament. The rating for Jose Antonio Rodriguez is fair as he has had limited playing time throughout his career and has yet to hold a consistent starting role.

Defenders

The starting backline’s ratings are as follows; Damian Perez 73, Emanuel Aguilera 70, Alejandro Donatti 73, Juan Carlos Valenzuela 69, and Matias Aguirregaray 72. Most are fair. Maybe Aguilera could have been higher, but he was injured throughout most of the Clausura 2017. Club captain Juan Carlos Valenzuela received the worst treatment, even after a solid season, and definitely deserves at least a 70 rating. Some other notable defenders include Michael Orozco coming in with a 68, Juan Carlos Nunez with a 67, and Yasser Corona(yes he’s in the game) with a 69 rating.

Midfielders

The Xolos’ midfield contains some of the most controversial ratings in the team, that may exemplify that EA Sports doesn’t give much effort when deciding ratings for Liga MX clubs. Damian Musto comes in with a 73 rating, which may be the only fair judgment among midfielders. Musto has the same rating as Guido Rodriguez in the game, exemplifying that EA Sports sees him as a respectable replacement in that Xolos’ midfield. Joe Corona holds a very poor rating at 69 considering he played a decent role with the United States national team in its 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup run.

Enzo Kalinski comes in at 73, which is controversial as it is yet to be seen if Kalinski is on the same level as players like Damian Musto and Guido Rodriguez. Mauricio Cuero was given a generous rating of 69, even if he has fallen out of place with the team and now features consistently with the U20 squad. Luis Chavez comes in at 61, while Alejandro Guido has a 64 rating, a bit harsh for both players. Finally, the two most controversial ratings in the midfield and on the team are Ignacio Malcorra and Matias Pisano. Malcorra comes in at 71 while Pisano holds a rating of 72. You would think that Malcorra would be much more highly rated than Pisano considering he contributed a great deal to the team in the Clausura 2017 while Pisano sat on the bench for most of the tournament.

Attackers

There is not much controversy in the attack, with the exception of Juan Martin Lucero, who holds a relatively high rating of 73, on par with players like Toluca’s Gabriel Hauche and Santos Laguna’s Julio Furch. Henry Martin and Luis Angel Mendoza both have a rating of 69, fair to their performances before this season. Club Tijuana’s latest signings, Juan Manuel Iturbe and Miller Bolanos, both hold respectable ratings, Bolanos coming in at 75 and Iturbe slightly edging him out with a 76 rating. Finally, the highest rated player on Club Tijuana and one of the highest rated players in the Liga MX is Gustavo Bou with a 79 rating. Perhaps the rating is a bit generous as Bou is higher rated than players like Rogelio Funes Mori, Nicolas Castillo, Enner Valencia, Raul Ruidiaz, Mauro Boselli, and Aviles Hurtado. Bou does have a decent track record in Argentina, but is not a proven Liga MX player just yet, but may be on his way to proving that he deserves to be higher rated than those players that were previously mentioned.

Francisco Velasco

Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.