In the CS2 competition of the Esports World Cup 2024, only four teams are left in the race. The two highest-ranked teams in the world, Team Spirit and Team Vitality, have been eliminated. The four semifinalists are MOUZ (3rd), Natus Vincere (5th), G2 Esports (6th), and Virtus.pro (7th).
Quite frankly, we didn’t expect most of these teams to reach the semifinals but here they are. One of them will win the trophy in a few days, along with $400.000. The runner-up receives $175.000. Here’s a brief analysis of these four teams.
MOUZ
Apart from the roster change they made in January 2024, when they signed Brollan to replace frozen, MOUZ have been competing with the same roster for over a year. This puts them in a good position because team experience and cohesion are very important in CS2.
This year, MOUZ finished 3rd – 4th at IEM Katowice, 5th – 8th at the Copenhagen Major, 2nd at IEM Chengdu, 1st at ESL Pro League S19, 1st at BetBom Dacha Belgrade, and 9th – 12th at IEM Dallas. Now they seem to be on their way to winning another trophy.
In the opening stage of this tournament, they defeated Sashi Esport 2 – 1 after losing the first map, Nuke, 11 – 13. In the quarterfinals of the playoffs, MOUZ encountered FURIA Esports and won 2 – 1 again.
Next, they will play against Natus Vincere. This will arguably be their toughest opponent so far but their odds of winning are around 50%.
Natus Vincere
A few words from @jLcsgo_ after the match#EsportsWorldCup pic.twitter.com/7RmdoaQtiQ
— NAVI (@natusvincere) July 19, 2024
Na’Vi won the Copenhagen Major this year and finished 7th – 8th at IEM Katowice. At ESL Pro League S19 and IEM Dallas, they were 9th – 12th. At BLAST Premier: Spring Final, they were 2nd.
Na’Vi had to compete against FURIA and FaZe Clan at this tournament. They won both matches without losing a single map. Based on these results, they are clearly in good shape and have a decent chance of winning the semifinal.
G2 Esports
G2 surprised everyone with their performance. They were expected to fail miserably after drastically changing their roster. Instead, they defeated two of the strongest competitors in the race: The MongolZ (2 – 0) and Spirit (2 – 1). It seems that Snax and malbsMd were excellent signings.
In my view, G2 Esports has the highest chance of winning the tournament.
Virtus.pro
VP miraculously defeated Team Vitality in the quarterfinals and Complexity in the opening stage. Their performance so far in 2024 hasn’t been amazing but they have the potential to cause an upset against G2 in the semifinals.
Header: ESL, Esports World Cup Foundation
