We're big fans of retro footy video games here at Balls.ie, and FIFA 98 Road To The World Cup might just be the daddy of them all.
We regularly reminisce about memories from our favourite classic sports games, and one thing that popped up in a recent discussion was our fondness for the digital version of Tony Cascarino back in 1998, back when Big Cas was bagging them in for AS Nancy in Ligue 1. Cascarino had 44 goals in 109 Nancy appearances. There must have been a Nancy supporter working at EA Sports at the time because Cascarino was the lynchpin of many journies to World Cup glory.
So we made a point to check out Cascarino's in-game stats on FIFA 98, and it turns out it wasn't just a co-incidence that the big man routinely fired Ireland to glory, the man was a complete beast.
Have a look for yourself.
Acceleration: 91, Agility: 91, Awareness: 83.
The first three stats we see here (only three visible at one time, it was 1997 when this was made after all) are acceleration, agility, and awareness.
Anyone who saw Tony play will admit that 91 acceleration and agility is completely insane. These traits made it easy for him to blaze past defenders.
Speed: 91, Tackling: 79, Aggression: 79.
Once again that trademark Cascarino pace shines through, and 79 tackling for a striker??? Made it easy to rob defenders and sprint through on goal.
Reactions: 87, Shot Power: 83, Shot Accuracy: 83
Fantastic stats for a striker here. These three stats made Cascarino lethal in the right hands.
Creativity: 71, Fitness: 87, Heading Accuracy: 83.
So he could run all day and had the heading to complement his finishing, unbelievable.
All these stats when brought together resulted in something like this:
What a beast.
This story was originally written by Mikey Traynor in 2014.
