South American woes continue at IEM Rio
After two sorrowful showings from South American sides 9z and 00 Nation to start the day, fans in the arena continued to find disappointment as FURIA were bested by BIG in a grueling overtime affair.
Although the Germans got off to a decent start on their T-side as they picked up the first two rounds, BIG were quickly outclassed by FURIA. The Brazilians marched ahead with a ten-round streak that was eventually broken by a clutch from Florian "syrsoN" Rische, culminating in an overwhelming 12-3 half from FURIA.
Despite an impressive three kills in rapid succession from Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz on the second pistol round, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato pulled through in a 1v3 to snatch the round from BIG's grasp. Despite being thoroughly demoralized by this turn of events, the Germans managed to respond with a force-buy victory, which allowed BIG to begin whittling down FURIA's significant lead. BIG put up a stalwart defense in the second half, and although FURIA were able to secure match point, they were unable to prevent BIG from dragging the map into overtime, where the Germans finally closed things out 19-16.
There will be one more opening match featuring a South American team, as Imperial are set to take on Vitality at 02:00PM. Brazilian fans will be crossing their fingers for a victory after going winless all day.