Interview with Daniel Schellhase
German twins, Daniel and Dennis Schellhase are the world’s best FIFA players and have won already World Cyber Games FIFA title … FIFPlay had a chance to interview Daniel, who won 2006 WCG FIFA competition and to ask his ideas for FIFA 08.

Daniel, can you please introduce yourself for FIFA fans?
Daniel Schellhase: My Name is Daniel Schellhase, I’m 23 years old and play FIFA for the well-known team SK-Gaming.
I won 2006 World Cyber Games FIFA title. And in 2003 I got second place of the competition, behind my brother but won with him the 2on2 competition.

What are your favourite club and your favourite player?
Daniel Schellhase: My favourite club is 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and my favourite player is Thierry Henry from Arsenal.

How did you come up with FIFA playing, which FIFA version was your first FIFA game - on which platform?
Daniel Schellhase: It was FIFA International Soccer on Super Nintendo. But I played every year the new FIFA part :>

Have you ever thought at that time that you could win the WCG FIFA title?
Daniel Schellhase: I never thought that I would get the chance once again … But after my brother won WCG for the second time I was very motivated. I wanted to do all to get this title too. So I practiced the whole year really hard to reach my aim.

Who is your real rival at WCG, of whom you are afraid?
Daniel Schellhase: He is Ovvy from Romania. I know that he would be the best beside my brother and me :>

How do you warm up for WCG matches before the event, are you going to play with your brother, Dennis “Styla”?
Daniel Schellhase: Yes, we practiced a lot at home to get to the highest possible level before WCG. But I had many university examinations which stopped my practice two weeks before WCG. But after the examinations we spend the rest of our time to practice.

Are you playing FIFA online at home … are you using same nickname ‘SK | hero’ when you play online, or try to be anonymous there?
Daniel Schellhase: No, I never play on another nick … because if they read my nickname … everybody try to do his best and that’s better training for me … if they don’t know they aren’t 100% motivated and I think they don’t play against a very good gamer and don’t take the game serious … so its better to play with real nick … :>

There are some other football games like PES, have you ever played them; some people say PES is better than FIFA, what do you think? Daniel Schellhase: In FIFA are more ways to score and you are more free for placing your players on the field. It’s much more calculable than PES and that’s the reason why its better for eSports. PES is much luckier… and it makes me frustrated if I know I did all right and didn’t score because my player didn’t want to in this moment. I want to get better and better in a game and want to be free in my style of gaming … in PES you are bounded on your system you use, but in FIFA you are more free … You have many more opportunities, and that is the reason why I like FIFA much more.

FIFA Manager is the management version of EA Sports FIFA game; have you a copy of this game at home?
Daniel Schellhase: Yes, I have one, but I don’t have time to play it, because beside my studies and the eSport there isn’t enough space to play much more, because I want to spend a lot of time with my friends and girlfriend.

As you know, FIFPlay tries to deliver everyone’s best idea to EA for improving the next version of FIFA (FIFA 08), which features or improvements should EA add to FIFA 08 to make it better, have you any suggestion or new idea for it?
Daniel Schellhase: A method for sending player in more than only one direction. I want to control where player runs … not only straight to the goal. Upwards and downwards would be better, Corners shouldn’t be so easy… it’s very easy to score after a corner.
The long balls shouldn’t be so effective in the next version.
And a better behaviour of the defenders in a 4-defender system.