FURIA defeat Extra Salt to advance to cs_summit 8 upper final

The Brazilians have ended the North American team's nine-match winning streak in all competitions.

FURIA are through to the cs_summit 8 upper bracket final following a 2-1 victory over Extra Salt, where they will square off against the winner of Liquid and paiN on Friday. The three-map affair saw the two teams win each other’s map picks in close scorelines before Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company turned around a 1-9 deficit on Train to secure the win.

"We don’t have a preference, but probably Liquid," Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo said in the post-match interview with a smile on his face when asked about his ideal opponent in their next match. "We’re used to winning against them."

A flawless CT pistol got FURIA off to a flying 7-1 start on Nuke, and the Brazilians looked primed to build on that if not for a Edgar "⁠MarKE⁠" Maldonado double helping get the ball rolling for his team. Extra Salt recomposed and had the half win in their sights but fell short in the last round as their opponents went into the side switch up by one. A strong start to the second half was soon soured for Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou & co. as a VINI 3K marked the beginning of the end for the North American team, with FURIA claiming the vast majority of remaining rounds for a 16-13 victory.

The two teams couldn’t be separated in the early stages of Inferno as they traded blows back and forth. At 5-5, FURIA began to ease off the pace as Extra Salt, spearheaded by an onpoint Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley, tightened up their defensive setups to secure a 9-6 advantage at the midway point. arT’s squad took control of the second half from the get-go and promptly tied up the score before edging ahead by a solitary round, but the Terrorist side hit a higher gear to overtake the Brazilians and go on to lock down a 16-12 scoreline.

Train was left to determine a victor, where FaNg stamped his authority on the map immediately by launching Extra Salt into a 9-1 CT lead with frequent multi-kills. FURIA found their footing to bring the deficit within four and give themselves a fighting chance, though, and carried over their late first-half success into their defence. The Brazilians didn't look back and went on a dominant run to overcome Extra Salt 16-12 and book their place in the playoff's upper finals.