I’ve played Pro Evolution Soccer every year since I was a teenager who was just about to start studying at uni. To put that into some context I am now in my early thirties and have been working in my (perhaps poorly) chosen career for more than a decade.

That’s a lot of life stages Pro Evolution Soccer has been around for and with how good the game has been in recent years there’s no sign of it going anywhere. Unless Konami decides to do a Konami and decide its done with video games again, that is. Bar that though I don’t see myself dropping off the PES bandwagon any time soon.

For good reason too; the PES 2016 has delivered a plethora of “oh yeah” moments this year. Perhaps more than any game since PES5 way back when.

Sure the Euro 2016 update may have been a great way to retcon the miserable road the Netherlands have had since the World Cup, but taking my beloved Feyenoord to the top of the Eredivisie is still where it’s at for me.

And taters deep into Tits McGee’s tenure at the club, things are going from strength to strength at De Kuip. Captain Kuyt is having a whale of a year, Korean import Yun Il-lok is running rampant in the midfield, and the defence is rock solid backing up the safe as houses Vermeer. Life is good sitting at the top of the table and well clear of second-placed PSV Eindhoven.

And it’s goals like the one below that win matches, as a sneaky cross finds the head of Vilhena, and the back of the net. Nothing left to say but “What. A. Header!”, really.

https://twitter.com/SaundoAU/status/756431975544610817

No other games deliver quite the same feeling sports simulations do. Which is why no matter what else is sitting underneath the telly waiting to be played, I’ll always find time to get my virtual sport on. Even if they don’t quite capture the magic and unpredictability of the sports they’re based on.

Still, if this is as good as it gets for the time being, that ain’t half bad.