mousesports top Group A over Liquid; to semi-finals

MOUZ have topped Group A after sweeping Liquid 2-0 (Inferno 16-9, Train 16-5) to secure their spot in the ESL One Belo Horizonte semi-finals.

The last series of the day kicked off on Inferno, where MOUZ got off to a flying start, racking up plenty of money with the SMGs en route to a 4-0 lead on the back of Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's 1v1 clutch in the pistol round.

The economy dwindled away after Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo converted the following half-buy into a victory, with the former player adding two more doubles to his name to equalize things at 4-4.

The following two rounds were exchanged before chrisJ stepped up to the plate with a fantastic solo ace with the AWP on A and followed it up with a triple on the B bombsite, as MOUZ grabbed an eight-round half.

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi combined for five kills in the second pistol, and the Finn proceeded to clutch a 1v2 on B in the next round, helping the European side extend their lead to 11-7.

Liquid grabbed the first gunround while their opponents saved two weapons, but they were quickly on the back foot again as MOUZ broke their economy. ropz added a 1v2 clutch and a triple to his tally shortly after, inspiring his team to finishing off the first map at 16-9.

MOUZ' pick, Train, followed, and it was the European side who grabbed their third pistol round in the series to go up 2-0. This time, Liquid replied in the third-round eco, courtesy of Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's triple, but they couldn't string more together to gain some much-needed economy.

The North American side added their second round on the board on the back of TACO's 1v1 clutch on the lower bombsite, but MOUZ took over again thanks to chrisJ's five kills over the next two rounds. Liquid managed to pick up two stray rounds throughout the rest of the half, again after clutches from Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella and TACO, leading to an 11-4 half in favor of mouz.

Once the European squad picked up their fourth pistol round in the series and survived the following two rounds, it was only a matter of time before they closed it out. Liquid were only able to put up one before falling 5-16, with MOUZ securing a ticket to the semi-finals.