Talk about finding the back of the net with a clutch goal.
EA Sports debuted its Play Beautiful official commercial for FIFA 16 on Wednesday—just six days before the September 22 release of the highly-anticipated game—and the star-studded ad features soccer greats such as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Alex Morgan, Pele...and even Hall of Fame-bound NBA superstar Kobe Bryant.
The five-time NBA champion and die-hard soccer fan appears just before the halway mark of the ad, kicking a basketball into a hoop—nothing but net—and throwing his hands up in pure joy, yelling, "what!"
Including Bryant in the official FIFA 16 commercial is well...played beautiful, considering he spent a healthy portion of his youth immersed in Italy's soccer culture, both playing and watching the sport. It also marks a reunion of sorts for Bryant and Messi, who have appeared together in memorable ads before.
The Play Beautiful spot actually begins with Messi and Aguero hooked up to EA Sports' motion sensors, dribbling and shooting with ease, before weaving in FIFA 16 gameplay footage including that of Morgan, the World Cup-winning member of the United States women's national team. Messi is later seen with a controller in hand playing the game himself, while the sequence flashes to Pele cheering in a live crowd a short time thereafter.
Anticipation for FIFA 16 was already percolating before this commercial dropped. It's likely to even grow that much more after it. Gooooal!
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