On September 17 at 17:15 EEST, Team Spirit will face FURIA Esports in the first-round playoff match of ESL Pro League Season 20 for Counter-Strike 2. The match will be played in a best-of-three format. We have analysed both teams' statistics and provided a prediction for the upcoming game.
Team Spirit’s Recent Performance
Over the last month, Team Spirit's average rating in S-tier events is 6.4. They competed in IEM Cologne 2024 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2. Their performance at Cologne was disappointing, finishing 13th-16th, contrary to their expectations as favourites. However, they performed significantly better at Belgrade, winning the tournament.
In their last five matches, Spirit won four, defeating Eternal Fire, Wildcard Gaming, The Mongolz, and Team 3DMAX. Their sole loss was to MIBR. Spirit advanced to the ESL Pro League Season 20 playoffs, finishing third in Group B.
FURIA Esports’ Recent Performance
FURIA’s average rating in S-tier events over the past month is 6.0. They also participated in IEM Cologne 2024 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2. Like Spirit, they were disappointed with a 13th-16th place finish in Cologne. At Belgrade, they reached the playoffs but fell short, finishing 5th-6th.
Of their last five matches, FURIA won three, defeating RED Canids twice and ATOX Esports once. Losses to Team Vitality and Virtus.pro suggest inconsistency against top opponents. FURIA progressed to the ESL Pro League S20 playoffs from fourth place in Group D.
Map Preferences
Spirit typically bans Inferno (28 times). Their map picks include Nuke (17 games with an 82% win rate) and Ancient (17 games with a 71% win rate). Spirit’s strongest maps are Nuke (82% win rate), Dust2 (78%), and Ancient (71%).
FURIA frequently bans Anubis (32 times) or Ancient (21 times). Their primary pick is Nuke (28 games with a 61% win rate), which overlaps with Spirit’s preferences. FURIA’s successful maps include Inferno (71%) and Ancient (58%).
Previous Encounter
The last match between Spirit and FURIA occurred 18 days ago at the Belgrade tournament, where Spirit won convincingly 2-0, with scores of 13:4 on Mirage and 13:1 on Anubis. This result highlights Spirit's advantage in this matchup.
Prediction
Given Team Spirit's recent form, their victory in Belgrade, and their superior map pool, they are the likely favourites for this match. FURIA’s inconsistent performance, especially against top teams, and their recent loss to Spirit further support the prediction.
Prediction: Spirit to win 2-1.
ESL Pro League Season 20 runs from September 3 to 22 in Malta, with teams competing for a prize pool of $750,000.