Sprout have made the cut for the ESL One Rio European closed qualifier. They recovered well from the lost final in the first open qualifier last week and got through on the second try.
Second round of European ESL One Rio open qualifiers
Dignitas and BIG made it out of open qualifier No. 1 which opened the door for lower tier teams to break through in qualifier No. 2. Sprout were one of two teams to take advantage of the big dogs’ absence.
Having lost to Dignitas in a close three-map decider last week, the international squad was not going to be denied this time. The biggest scare for Sprout came early on in the form of a double overtime brawl with KPI in the Round of 32. The bigger the opposition got, the better Sprout played and none of their following opponents – Team Secret, AVEZ or the finalists AGO could properly challenge them.
Nordavind, another multi-national roster, also secured a spot in the European closed qualifier. Jorgen “cromen” Robertsen and co. marched into the Bo3 decider with extreme confidence having lost 8 rounds at the most in their previous four games. Their final opponents PACT broke that streak with a Vertigo win to start the match. Nordavind found their groove afterwards and turned things around on the Poles for a 2-1 victory.
Two more open qualifiers are left in the European region. The first one is scheduled for this weekend and the second for February 12-13.
