Minnesota United’s ‘LAMPS’ has officially qualified for the 2023 eMLS Cup following strong performances in League Series 1 (LS1) and League Series 2 (LS2) action. After finishing League Series 1 and League Series 2 qualifiers with a record of 19-3-3 (W-L-D), ‘LAMPS’ stands in the No. 1 seed overall and is officially one of the top-11 players to automatically qualify for the eMLS Cup tournament on Sunday, March 12.

Eshan Zakeri, the 19-year-old who represents MNUFC as ‘LAMPS’, went 9-2-1 in LS2 action from February 7-8 before finishing in second place in the qualifiers. ‘LAMPS’ defeated ‘GAdamou10’ (Seattle Sounders) and ‘Fiddle’ (Vancouver Whitecaps) before facing ‘Paulo Neto’ (Atlanta United) in the LS2 final round and coming just one goal short on aggregate of winning the final.

During LS1 competition at the end of January, ‘LAMPS’ went 10-1-2 over two qualifying days and entered in first position ahead of the knockout rounds where he then earned victories against ‘Goal Machine’ (Toronto FC) and ‘AlanAvi’ (FC Dallas) before seeing defeat in the final matchup against ‘Paulo Neto’ (Atlanta United) to finish second overall in LS1. ‘LAMPS’ performances in LS1 and LS2 qualifiers earned him the No. 1 seed for the 2023 eMLS Cup championship tournament knockout stage, which is set to take place live in Austin, Texas at South by Southwest (SXSW) on Sunday, March 12.

The top two finishers within eMLS Cup get direct bids to the EA SPORTS FIFA 23 Global Series Playoffs. Third and fourth place will get a chance to compete in the EA SPORTS FIFA 23 Global Series Playoffs ‘Play-ins’. All four players from the top-four eMLS Cup final standings will be in prime position to compete in the FIFAe World Cup.