Soccer and stock car racing will collide this weekend. On Sunday, May 15, Ted Lasso Star Cristo Fernández and racing star Toni Breidinger will be paired with influencers and content creators Chell and Jon Sandman to compete in a Rocket League match. Rocket League is a video game that combines racing and soccer and was released in 2015 but has since been adopted as an esport. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Fernández and Breidinger, and they seemed more than ready for the big match.
“I played the game a little bit before the match to practice,” Breidinger exclusively told PopCulture. “I thought it was fun to kind of use my race-craft that I’ve learned through the years and apply it to the game. So yeah, I thought it was really fun and, obviously, Cristo, he’s good at soccer, so he was able to apply that aspect, so I thought it was really fun.”
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“Yeah, I also played a little bit, tried to prepare myself for the big game,” Fernández said. “I might have the football skills, Toni has the driver skills, so I think it’s an exciting match.” The match, which can be seen on Rocket League’s Twitch Channel or YouTube Channel, is part of a partnership with Rocket League and 7-Eleven. With 7-Eleven being an official sponsor of the North American Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), the company has snagged naming rights to the North American Regional Event which starts on Friday and ends on Sunday. 7-Eleven is also giving fans a chance to win a fan-designed Model 711 car, which is a custom Ford Mustang.
“I haven’t seen it in person, but I’ve heard about it and I think it’s really cool, all the custom stuff they’ve done to it,” Breidinger said. “I think they mentioned that it has special rims and seats and even a coffee stand to it, so there’s really fun aspects to the car, but yeah, I wish I could win it! Whoever wins it is pretty lucky!”
As for the Rocket League match, both Fernández and Breidinger are confident they will earn the win on Sunday. “I feel very confident, I think playing the sport… I mean, honestly, I really enjoy Rocket League,” Fernández said. “I’m really a big fan of cars, so when I first discovered the game I was really fascinated by it, and some… So I was really… And I also like… It turns out football has been part of my life, I am really into sports, being a competitive person has always been part of me as well, so I do… I feel confident.”
“I would say I’m very confident and pretty competitive,” Breidinger said. “I’ve always been competitive. I’ve been racing for a long time, so I feel like that’s just the trait that I have in myself, I don’t like to lose. Yeah, I feel like I have a lot of confidence in going into it.”
