FURIA eliminate NAVI to keep Major dream alive for Brazil

The hometown heroes, backed by a passionate crowd at the Jeunesse Arena, made it through to the semi-finals over the last remaining top five team in the field.

FURIA are through to the IEM Rio Major semi-final after defeating Major favorites Natus Vincere, eliminating the Ukrainian-Russian combine with wins on Ancient (16-10) and Mirage (16-10) after losing NAVI's pick, Nuke (14-16). Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato was the difference maker, the the 23-year-old amassed a 1.37 rating and 70 frags in the series.

The Major now moves into the semi-final stage, with FURIA set to play HEROIC on Saturday at 21:30 for a place in the final. Natus Vincere's exit came off the back of several poor CT sides and a lacking performance from star AWPer Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, who ended the series at the bottom of the scoreboard with a 0.87 rating.

Nuke began with the home crowd erupting as FURIA won the first pistol round, but the mood in the arena soon changed after Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev won a 1vs2 clutch in the following force-buy. The early skirmish continued, with the Brazilian squad ending up 4-2 in front as Natus Vincere were forced on an eco. The Ukrainian side's individual brilliance shone through after that, Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy winning a 1vs2 clutch with the AWP before s1mple and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov combined to convert a 2vs5 situation to turn the half on its head. FURIA won just one more round after that, going into their offense one round behind.

Natus Vincere won the second-half pistol round and kept the momentum they built at the end of the first half, finding themselves in a 13-8 lead after b1t stopped the lower site attack with a triple-kill. With the game slipping out of FURIA's hands, KSCERATO showed up with a triple of his own. The crowd willed FURIA on as Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company took a 14-13 lead. With their backs against the wall and armored with just pistols, Natus Vincere won an incredibly unlikely round to tie up the scores once again and break FURIA's streak, as the Ukrainian side won the last three rounds of the half to end up 16-14 winners and take a lead into the second map.

The first half of Ancient was a dominant performance by FURIA, who won the pistol and following conversion to race to a 5-0 lead. Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos won a 1vs3 clutch to keep the streak going before Natus Vincere finally got on the board. With the Ukrainian side slowly establishing a foothold in the game, arT's MAC10 found two entry kills, which put FURIA in a 10-3 lead. Although Natus Vincere won the final two rounds, they still went into the less-favored T side five rounds behind the Brazilians.

b1t won two 1vs1 clutches at the start of the second half to give his team some hope and force FURIA into a couple of unsuccessful force buys. After the Brazilians got their economy under control they won five in a row to reach six map points. They needed just two to close out the map 16-11 and move to the series on to the decider of Mirage.

The decider began with a couple of close wins for FURIA, the Brazilian team finding themselves 4-0 ahead. Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy delivered Natus Vincere's first round with a triple-kill on the A site, and the close nature of the previous rounds meant that the FURIA economy was in tatters immediately. That enabled Natus Vincere to take control of the half, with their successful mid takes giving them ample time to feel out the map and end on the correct site. The scores were tied all through the half, with FURIA edging out a one-round advantage as they began their offense.

FURIA won another pistol to start the final half of the series, with Natus Vincere soon answering back by winning the first gun round to tie up the scores at 10-10. The Brazilian team harnessed the energy of the home crowd, as they won six rounds in a row on the offense to close out the game 16-10 and book their spot in the semi-final of their home Major.