Live updates from Esports World Cup 2024 day three

FaZe 5-7 Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere have taken a slender two-round lead into the second half thanks to another great performance by Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy, who put up 104 ADR.

On the FaZe side, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard are yet to activate.

FaZe 0-1 Natus Vincere

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard was almost gifted a 1v3, but Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius ended the Norwegian's attempt with a quick headshot.

On his form: "I want to get back into the groove of wanting to destroy my opponents."

On b1t's performance: "He really wants to win, and he's back. He has a fire inside him that came back."

On Dust2: "B1ad3 has played this map for the whole of his career. It's a simple map, but if you overcomplicate it you can lose the map."

On FaZe: "You can't let them play their own game and need to play aggressive."

Despite the loss, Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo was satisfied with FURIA's performance in Riyadh, and he also talked about Neymar's presence in the arena.

"He enjoys playing CS in his free time, he has been like that for a couple of years. I wish we gave him the chance to crush their key, that would have been an awesome moment," the Brazilian legend said about the post-match ritual of crushing your opponent's key at EWC.

MOUZ 7-3 FURIA

It's the second 1v2 clutch from the Brazilian player, who is keeping FURIA in this game!

MOUZ 3-1 FURIA

Just two days after being destroyed by Natus Vincere on Mirage, FURIA put in a much-improved performance to beat MOUZ in a close game.

MOUZ quickly reached double digits after the side switch, but FURIA's defense was nearly impenetrable throughout the half, with the Brazilians dropping only one gun round as CTs.

We're now headed to Inferno.

MOUZ 7-5 FURIA

Just like on Nuke, MOUZ improved as the first half wore on and went into the break up by two. FURIA were unable to string gun rounds together, and now they have a very difficult task ahead on the CT side.

MOUZ 4-3 FURIA

FURIA have been put on the back foot after losing two rounds that should have been in the bag. First, they lost a 4v2 advantage against Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo. Then, they wasted a 4v3 post-plant situation.

Can the Brazilians keep their cool and fight back?

MOUZ take the lead in the series with a comfortable victory on FURIA's map pick of Nuke.

The Brazilians started brightly but flamed out quickly, with Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato cutting a frustrated figure in this game, Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo was MOUZ's main X factor in this game with a stunning 122 ADR and a 23-9 score.

MOUZ 12-6 FURIA

MOUZ 7-5 FURIA

All of a sudden, MOUZ have managed to get a firm grip on the game. Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo powered his team to a two-round lead with some incredible numbers: 18 frags, seven multi kills and a whopping 148 ADR...

MOUZ 1-5 FURIA

It's been a rough start to the game for MOUZ. They lost two of the initial three rounds of the game to Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros clutches, and then lost the first full gun round in a 5v3 situation.

After finally getting a round on the board, MOUZ lost to a weaker buy.

Without too much surprise, FURIA went straight for a Nuke pick. It's the only map that they played yesterday in the Last Chance Stage, beating FlyQuest, Sashi and The MongolZ.

MOUZ played Nuke on the first day of the Esports World Cup, losing to Sashi in a close 13-11 game.

The second map of the series will be Mirage, where FURIA were destroyed by Natus Vincere on Wednesday, while the decider will be Inferno.

On playing Nuke three times in the Last Chance Stage: The last game, I was pretty surprised. We all were. We are showing some great results on it and we're very confident on it.

On his adaption to FURIA: Since the beginning, they have been doing an amazing job at making me feel comfortable, giving me some space and the freedom to speak up a bit more. siddee has known me since I was little. He makes me feel very comfortable and very confident.

On facing MOUZ: I feel really confident in this matchup. The last time we faced them, I was on Liquid. I feel it's a different story here. We have a very strong map pool right now. I feel very confident.

On loss against VP: "We didn't play our best, we didn't have the energy to fight them after the first map. We lost a lot of 5v3s in this series, they screwed us up a bit."

On VP's new playstyle: "You have to give them credit, they played with our rotations. They do feel different now, they have a lot more spiciness now. The individuals are so sharp, they have elevated their game with electronic."

On what they need to improve: "Not to lose advantageous situations. We need to regain our form because we just don't hit the headshots like we used to."

Vitality 4-9 Virtus.pro

Five alive for Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and company on the pistol, and that gives them a seemingly straightforward route to the semi-final.

Vitality 4-8 Virtus.pro

It all began with an unlikely retake of the B bombsite, and it was enough to usher forth a handful of CT rounds for Vitality.

They still have much to do in the second half, but they need to break their streak of five lost pistol rounds in this series.

Vitality 6-1 Virtus.pro

Vitality are floundering on CT side again. They are being constricted by Virtus.pro's map control, losing the opening frag, then crumbling under Virtus.pro's decisive hits.

This could be very one-sided.

Vitality 7-13 Virtus.pro

If Virtus.pro's CT side looked a little shaky, Vitality's literally couldn't stand straight. Not a single defensive round for Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and company. Neither team had much fun holding B, but Vitality suffered worse.

It wasn't as if Vitality didn't have chances, they got man-advantages multiple times, but they were completely lost in mid-round scenarios and Virtus.pro took full advantage.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut tried his best with some heroic multi-kills, but no other Vitality player managed more than 50 ADR.

Vitality 7-8 Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro almost faltered against a force-buy, but Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev rescued them once again.

Vitality 7-5 Virtus.pro

Vitality will feel they should have walked away from that half with more rounds.

Virtus.pro relied on hero multi-kills or gimmick stacks and pushes for their CT rounds. Vitality still managed to flub a few favourable moments due to messy trading and spacing, but overall were the much better looking side.

Vitality 3-4 Virtus.pro

Another messy map.

Virtus.pro are gambling a lot on the CT side and getting it wrong more often than not, but Vitality have suffered from a couple of messy moments in terms of spacing and trading.

Vitality 22-20 Virtus.pro

This game was all over the place. Both teams were throwing man-advantage rounds, both teams squandered strong starts to halves, and in the end it was Virtus.pro who made the final mistake.

Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev made some monster plays in OT to keep his team alive, but it wasn't enough.

Vitality 18-18 Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro might have changed up their playstyle, but they still like the long games.

Vitality 15-15 Virtus.pro

After a three-round T side set Vitality up for success, Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev decided he wasn't quite done with this game just yet.

Vitality 12-12 Virtus.pro

A hard-fought map so far. Most players on the server have had moments and have contributed impact, and there is little to separate the two squads right now.

Vitality 11-12 Virtus.pro

A few too many mistakes from Vitality in this half. Some poor pathing onto the A site lost them the previous round, and a missed smoke has just cost them another.

Vitality 11-10 Virtus.pro

Vitality 8-8 Virtus.pro

Vitality 7-5 Virtus.pro

Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali might not be built for the hold-W lifestyle, but it still bore fruit for Virtus.pro overall as they manage a five-round offense.

Vitality's struggles this year have generally been in mid-rounds, but Virtus.pro's up-tempo and simplistic approach rarely let proper mid-rounds play out.

Vitality 5-3 Virtus.pro

Vitality 3-3 Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro are opting for a VERY up-tempo T side approach, a rarity for them. It seems Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov is having some impact.

Virtus.pro got a lead off the pistol, but they are now being dealt with handily by Vitality since guns game up.

Kicking off the day's action is Vitality vs. Virtus.pro, and it promises to be a fascinating matchup.

Vitality and Virtus.pro faced off just before the recent player break

Virtus.pro seem to be getting their feet under them with Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov among their number, having bagged a top four finish to end last season and opened their account in Riyadh with a dominant victory over Complexity. In said victory, electroNic was in peak form.

Vitality meanwhile had an underwhelming first half of the year, failing to win a single title and in general struggling to find their best form in playoff showings. They are still an elite squad, make no bones about it, but Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut's drop off in playoff games has prevented them from matching the exploits that saw them named 2023's team of the year.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024
12/06/2024	Vitality Finished 1:2 Virtus.pro	Match

Virtus.pro bagged a win over Vitality at BLAST Premier Spring Final, the most recent tournament prior to the player break, although it was a hard-fought victory that required the Russians to come from a map down and battle for their two map wins.

Likely the most one-sided quarter-final on paper, plenty will be expecting to see MOUZ breeze past FURIA in their bout later today.

MOUZ are one of the world's best sides right now, won a couple of titles towards the back end of last season, and are ranked No. 3 in the world. FURIA are sat at a lowly No. 18, have struggled for some time to compete with the elite, and have a new player to embed.

However, MOUZ ended last season with a shaky performance in Dallas and dropped a map to a No. 32-ranked Sashi earlier in this very tournament. FURIA meanwhile seem to have had new life breathed into them by the signing of Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros, but have relied heavily on Nuke as their favoured battleground.

Date	Matches
IEM Chengdu 2024
08/04/2024	FURIA Finished 1:2 MOUZ	Match

When these two sides met earlier this year in Chengdu, MOUZ took what was a surprisingly hard-fought series win. Will MOUZ bag another victory today?

MOUZ were a little shaky in their outing against Sashi

This matchup has become a bit of a classic in recent times, with these two squads having contested some banger matches across the last couple of years.

karrigan and Aleksib are set to butt heads once again

FaZe clinched a couple of hard-fought series wins over Natus Vincere to claim the PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Cologne titles back in 2022, the match in Cologne being a 3-2 victory that went down in the history books as one of the best series in CS:GO history.

More recently, Natus Vincere took down FaZe at PGL Major Copenhagen to bag the Major title, claiming some revenge for the organization's painful losses in 2022. Natus Vincere also beat FaZe at BLAST Premier Spring Final, meaning Natus Vincere's last two title-winning campaigns included wins over FaZe.

Across 2024 in general, Natus Vincere have the edge:

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024
31/03/2024	FaZe Finished 1:2 Natus Vincere	Match

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 19
08/05/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 0:2 FaZe	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024
13/06/2024	FaZe Finished 1:2 Natus Vincere	Match

The inaugural Esports World Cup hit the playoff stage yesterday and did so with a bang, as G2's new lineup grabbed an upset win over Spirit to book a semi-final spot.

Six teams will be vying today to join G2, with four of those teams currently ranked among the top five, and another ranked at No. 7. The best of the best are competing for the title in Riyadh, and today promises to be an action-packed set of games.

Date	Matches
Esports World Cup 2024
19/07/2024	Vitality 13:30 Virtus.pro	Match
19/07/2024	MOUZ 17:55 FURIA	Match
19/07/2024	Natus Vincere 21:50 FaZe	Match