FURIA vs NAVI: Brazilians eliminate NAVI on home soil

The match all of Brazil was waiting for, FURIA vs NAVI. A quarterfinal that saw the world’s best CS: GO team goes up against the Home crowd favorite, the Jeunesse Arena was packed for this event. Thousands and thousands of Brazilian fans were there to support their home team, but S1mple and NAVI entered the arena with a focus that would send shivers down your spine.

FURIA were off to a 6-3 start on their CT side of Nuke. But Nuke is a heavily CT-sided map and as such the strong start did not inspire a lot of confidence. The true problems (or fear) started when NAVI started getting a string of rounds together on their T-side. With a 7-8 score, with NAVI in the lead at the end of the first-half, things looked dire for FURIA. 

The rounds were extremely close with some clutch situations going in favor of the CIS squad. These close rounds could have turned the tide of the match, however, that’s the way Counter-Strike goes.

SDY in particular was very impressive with crucial and impactful round victories. He also topped the scoreboard for NAVI throughout the map, highlighting just how much impact he had not just in terms of positioning and map control, but also in numbers.

NAVI won the second half pistol round and with it the next three rounds as well. But FURIA attacked outer repeatedly and managed to find their footing on Nuke. It wasn’t until much later that NAVI managed to win a round on its CT side again.

Ultimately, the first map of the series was extremely close with both teams in contention to win the map. With NAVI clearly playing against the favorites, stakes were high. The crowd support was undoubted with FURIA, but the Brazilian CS: GO fans had the utmost respect for NAVI. 

While it’s all fun to tease the crowd, S1mple and co. had a tough time on Ancient. Ancient was FURIA’s map pick and the Brazilian squad was always going to be much more comfortable on this CT-sided map pick.

FURIA were once again off to a strong start, this time on their T-side. A 5-0 start on the T-side meant they were always going to be favored on this heavily CT-sided map. They ended the first half with 10 rounds on the T-side.

With 24 kills KSCERATO was leading his team on the second map of the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the NAVI scoreboard looked relatively even with multiple players around the same levels. The fact that S1mple was not able to stand out in the NAVI leaderboard spoke volumes about FURIA’s preparation on this map.

After two maps, there was very little separating the two teams. FURIA and NAVI logged on to Mirage, a map that both teams are extremely comfortable on. It was the appropriate final map for the series and it did not disappoint. FURIA took an early lead on the CT-side, but S1mple and co. bounced back.

Despite S1mple being the unwavering superstar of NAVI, he was actually the player with the lowest stats in this match. His Map 1 shenanigans seemed to have impacted his performance as he was not his usual superstar role where he would be miles ahead of anyone else in the server.

There were several moments when the round could've gone either way. As the map headed towards completion, FURIA started expanding its lead over NAVI. The arena was erupting with passionate fans who were more than happy to see their favorite players win.

FURIA won seven rounds in a row in the second half to secure its Semifinals slot.

With this victory, FURIA will now face Heroic in the semifinals. Going past NAVI was undeniably their toughest challenge of the tournament.

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