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The Romanian CS2 national team started the competition with a defeat against the Kazakhstan national team in group C and had to beat all four remaining teams in the group to secure passage to the playoff phase. The Kazakhs dominated without losing a match, while the Romanians were right behind them with only one loss. As only the first two teams from each group of 6 advance, this meant direct placement in the quarterfinals.
Their first challenge on the way to a medal is the most dominant team in Group B – Germany. The Germans in Group B did not lose a single map and continued their dominance on the first playoff map. They defeated the Romanian team on the "Ancient" map and cornered them. However, there is a Romanian proverb that reads: "He who reads books is not learned, but he who knows what he reads". Thus, the Romanians sacrificed the first map so that in the second two ("Inferno" and "Dust 2") their strategy would flourish and take them to the semi-finals, where the Swedish national team is patiently waiting for them.
In the fight with the Swedes, the Romanians tried to go strong immediately with their first map "Dust 2", but it turned out that the opponents were more prepared than them. This meant that they had to do their best to pass further because they must not lose a single map. The maps "Mirage" and "Inferno" went in favor of the Romanian national team after a very uncertain 116 minutes. This was the most difficult challenge before them. Last year, the Swedes knocked them out in the quarter-finals, and now they are "relieved".
They are joined in the grand final by the national team of Portugal, which already surprised in the first match of the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs again took the first map "Ancient" convincingly and without problems, but on the maps "Vertigo" and "Inferno" they failed and ended the competition.
At the same time, the Serbian national team defeated the Polish national team, whose women shot the best in the world this year.
The meeting between Portugal and Serbia in the semi-finals was spectacular. The Serbians led the match with the first map "Nuke", which is also one of their weaker maps, but when it came time to prove themselves, they failed to outsmart the Portuguese. The second map, "Ancient" was easily won by Portugal, while "Dust 2" as a neutral selection was fatal for the Serbian national team. However, there is still hope for a medal in the match against Šedska. After losing the first "Mirage" map, the Serbians started and showed that they deserve a medal. The second map, "Inferno" was uncertain, while in the last map, "Ancient", they completely blew away the Scandinavians and won the medal.
The Romanians, on the other hand, are patiently waiting and analyzing the maps on which they will be famous. The first challenge is to beat the Portuguese on the "Inferno" map, which they managed to do in overtime. The very uncertain map from start to finish took a lot of energy from the Portuguese team, and in the second map - "Dust 2" they lost their spirit. The Romanian team was convincing in the final of the world championship and deservedly won the gold with a score of 2-0. In addition to the gold, they also won $100,000. While the Portuguese took home twice as much.
Adrijan "Xellow" Guta led the Romanian team and was outstanding as always. This time he was joined by Danijel Purice, known by the nickname "Ciocardau", who scored in overtime and secured Romania's passage to the grand final.
Serbia managed to secure the Bronze and $25,000. While 4th place took only $15,000. All other national teams that played in the playoff stage won $12,500 each, while the last 8 teams go home empty-handed.
