forZe take down 9z and go through to Roobet Cup playoffs

The South American squad will get one more chance to reach the knockout stage.

FORZE completed their undefeated run through the group stage of Roobet Cup 2022 after sweeping 9z 2-0 in Group D's winners' match. The Russian squad narrowly took their opponents' pick of Mirage (16-14) following a recovery on the T side before closing the whole affair on the CT side of Dust2 (16-9).

Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov's men have secured their place in the playoffs of the online tournament, building on their opening victory over Outsiders to top Group D. The quarter-final matches will take place on Monday, July 27.

It's not the end of the world for 9z as they will have one more chance to claim a spot in the next stage of the event, facing the winner of Outsiders vs FURIA in the decider match on Sunday at 19:00 .

The South Americans of 9z got off to a great start on their pick of Mirage, taking the opening pistol to kickstart a solid streak of offensive rounds with David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado and Maximiliano "⁠max⁠" Gonzalez performing solidly throughout the early stages of the half. After securing an initial 7-0 advantage, 9z's offense cooled down significantly while FORZE's CT side got stronger - thanks in part to Aleksandr "⁠zorte⁠" Zagodyrenko. The Russians took all but one of the remaining rounds before the break, salvaging a respectable 7-8 scoreline.

Things seemingly got worse for the South Americans as Aleksandr "⁠KENSI⁠" Gurkin converted a 1v2 clutch to secure the second pistol to FORZE, opening the doors to a 10-8 lead for the Russians. 9z responded with a force buy win, momentarily bringing the game back in their favor before conceding one of their own shortly after. As zorte continued to perform, KENSI joined him at the top of the scoreboard, powering FORZE's offense to a narrow 16-14 victory.

FORZE did not slow down after moving to their own map pick, taking an early 4-0 advantage. After a few quiet rounds, 9z managed to get their defense in shape and despite KENSI performing really well for the Russians, the CTs managed to scrap a few late rounds to close the half only trailing 7-8 behind. A failed push into the B site on round 17 completely turned the game in favor of FORZE, letting the defense come online much earlier than expected after conceding the second pistol. The Jerry-led squad only dropped one round as they cruised to a 16-9 victory.