Portland Timbers eMLS competitor Bruno "CptBruno" Albino is back at it this week in the eMLS League Series 2 FIFA 23 tournament. After taking fourth place in the League Series 1 Online Qualifiers in January, Albino received a bye straight into that tournament's quarterfinals where he lost a close 8-6 decision to FC Dallas but took home a $1,000 prize pool payout.
The strong play rocketed CptBruno up the eMLS Power Rankings to No. 7 in the league.
How to watch
League Series 2 Online Qualifiers take place Feb. 7-8 beginning at 3pm PT each day on the Timbers Twitch channel.
Group Stage play on Saturday, Feb. 11 continues on the Timbers Twitch channel beginning at 9:30am PT.
The Knockout Rounds begin at 12pm PT on Sunday, Feb. 13 and will be played simultaneously in a squad stream on the MLS Twitch channel.
League Series 2
League Series 2 serves as both the second half of the 2023 eMLS regular season as well as a standalone tournament.
League Series 1 saw competitors play 13 online matches to both set up the regular season standings and create seedings into that tournament's knockout stage. However, those online qualifiers will now be combined with 12 League Series 2's Online Qualifiers to determine seeding for eMLS Cup in March at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
The top 11 players from the overall Qualifier standings – LS1 and LS2 combined – qualify for the eMLS Cup Playoff Bracket on Sunday, Mar. 12 at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The remaining 15 players also travel to Austin for a one-day, single-elimination Last Chance Bracket to play for the 12th and final eMLS Cup tournament spot. With Albino currently sitting in fourth place overall, he's in good position to continue to play for a top 11 finish.
The LS2 standalone tournament – and corresponding trophy and prize payout – also continues this week following the Feb. 7-8 Online Qualifiers with all competitors then heading to New York City for an in-person LAN tournament.
As with League Series 1, the top four competitors from these LS2 Online Qualifiers – the Feb. 7-8 matches – receive a bye into the Sunday, Feb. 12 knockout competition. The remaining players are split into two groups of six and two groups of five to play a round robin group stage format on Saturday to battle it out for the remaining knockout spots. The top two finishers of each group join the four who received byes to fill out a 12-player, single elimination bracket for Sunday.
On Sunday, the first stage of the League Series knockout rounds are a single-leg format followed by two-legged match-ups for the quarterfinals, semifinals and grand final all playing for a portion of the $25,000 total prize pool.
