Setting Pes: 2013

The kick-off happened. For the first five minutes, nothing happened. Just the thump of passes, the squeak of boots. Then, in the 12th minute, Luka Modrić (his hair properly modded to the short crop) picked up the ball 30 yards out. No cursor above his head. Alex had to watch the body language.

First: He chose a fictional ground, "Stadio Orione." A cauldron. He tweaked the pitch pattern: perfect green, no lines. The shadows? Long, angled for a 3:00 PM kick-off. Not the sterile noon of the Premier League, but the golden, heavy-houred light of a South American qualifier. He set the net shape to "Box" and the tightness to "Loose," so the ball would billow the net like a sail catching wind. setting pes 2013

Too early.