Group D: Canada, Norway survive

The second day of The World Championships 2015 saw Groups C and D kick off, with the latter group featuring Canada, Norway, Belgium, and Singapore competing for a slice of the $100,000 prize-pot.

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Bjoern "⁠Skurk⁠" Maaren's Norway made butcher's work of Asian qualifier Singapore, shutting the SouthEast Asian nation's players down 16-3 on de_dust2.

The second opener of Group D saw Belgium's Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans attempt to lead a squad against Kory "⁠SEMPHIS⁠" Friesen's Canada, the latter team now the hope of North America following the USA's disastrous campaign.

The bullheaded tactics of SEMPHIS proved to be stronger than the finesse of Ex6TenZ as Canada's players fragged their way into the Group D winners' match, taking de_train 16-9 following ten straight rounds on the Canadian team's CT side.

In the losers' match, Belgium went up against Singapore and despite the Asian team's slightly better T-side performance this time around on de_dust2, the Belgian team did them one better on the offense, taking the map 16-6 and knocking the Singaporeans out of the tournament.

The Group D winners match also took place on de_dust2 and it was Canada who finished the first half up against Kristoffer "⁠Mystic⁠" Michelsen and co., 9-6. The Canadians showcased another superb CT-side in the group stage, taking ten straight rounds to Norway's one, mainly based off of refrags and coordination.

The Canadian team therefore took down Norway 16-10 and became the first to advance out of Group D.

The decider match dragged on into the wee hours of the next day due to incessant network issues (and thus took place off stream), and the games themselves were of marathon quality, with Norway picking up the victory on de_mirage only after overtime, 19-16.

de_inferno was equally contested with measure, and it was Belgium's time to take a map, once again with a 19-16 scoreline after a single overtime. Norway buckled in for the long haul and took the third map of de_dust2 with the score of 16-12.

The playoffs kick off in a few hours' time with Poland taking on Kyrgyzstan at 10:30 .

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter