Jimpphat shines as MOUZ defeat FURIA to lock in EWC semi-final spot

The Finnish superstar ended the series with a stunning +33 K-D and a 1.61 rating.

MOUZ are through to the semi-finals of the Esports World Cup thanks to a 2-1 victory over FURIA in the first round of the playoffs. Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek's troops set up a semi-final showdown against either Natus Vincere or FaZe on Saturday as they chase their third trophy of 2024.

The world No.3 team left it late to book their place in the semi-finals after surprisingly wasting a 10-5 lead on their map pick of Mirage, which siuhy attributed to his "awful" calling on the T side. "I let them down that game," he would say in a post-match interview.

Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo was once again the star of the show, topping the scoreboard for his team on all three maps to take his tournament rating to 1.55 and stake his claim as a strong MVP candidate.

FURIA were outclassed on Nuke and Inferno, but there should still be a lot of positives to take from this series and their Riyadh run as a whole. It's still early days for the roster, but Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros appears to be getting on well with his new teammates and had numerous impactful clutches throughout this series. This quarter-final run should give them a platform to build on ahead of IEM Cologne.

"This tournament was very important for us," Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo said after the match. "If we didn't do well here, there was a chance we would have to go back to Brazil to qualify for some tournaments. The fact that we had a good run here is going to help us have more practice time."

The Brazilians, keen to extend their winning streak on Nuke, began the series with intent and raced out to a 4-0 lead on the T side after a couple of skullz clutches in the early rounds and a 3v5 win in the first full gun round.

It looked like MOUZ were struggling to keep pace and gain any rhythm against their opponents, but then they finally hit their stride and went on a 7-1 run, behind some impressive rounds from Jimpphat, who ended the half with an 18-6 score and a 148 ADR.

The Finnish player added two more kills to his tally as MOUZ picked up the following pistol round with ease. FURIA's spirits were briefly lifted as they won the third round with MP9s, but MOUZ quickly regained control of the game and put the map to bed.

Mirage followed the same pattern as the previous map as FURIA hopped out to an early lead, only to lose control of the game once MOUZ had guns to work with. The European team quickly hit double digits after switching to the T side, but all of a sudden they lost some steam. With Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato leading the charge, FURIA went on a dominant 8-1 run to secure victory and take the series to Inferno.

MOUZ came out looking revitalized and sharp as they cruised to a 9-3 lead on the CT side - and the scoreline could have been even more lopsided if skullz had not won two 1v2 clutches.

FURIA found a lifeline in the second half by winning the pistol round, but their comeback hopes would be crushed instantly as MOUZ pulled off a successful force-buy and quickly won the final three rounds they needed.