The BIG and Sprout teams have to accept bitter defeats at the home game in Cologne. The last German hope now rests on the shoulders of MOUZ.
Hopes of seeing a German team on the winners’ podium at IEM Cologne have all but been extinguished by the elimination of BIG and Sprout in the tournament.
Bitter out for BIG
This was a short-lived treat. Both BIG and Sprout were eliminated at the IEM Cologne already during the Play-In Stage. Actually, everything started well for BIG. They won 16:7 against the Australian team ORDER and thus secured their ticket for the second round of the play-ins. Their second opponent, however, showed them their limits. The Russian team Outsiders, which had changed its name from Virtus.pro to Outsiders due to the Ukraine war, defeated BIG with 16:13 on Inferno and Dust II respectively.
Let’s go @tabseNcs! 💪 GOBIG pic.twitter.com/opWZusrT3x
– BIG @ IEM Cologne (@BIGCLANgg) July 5, 2022
In the subsequent descent into the Lower Bracket, the Berliners then met Astralis. On Nuke, the Danish team around in-game leader gla1ve won 16:14, followed by Dust II, which again BIG won 16:13. On the all-important map Overpass, the Germans lost 16:11 and had to pack their bags.
On Twitter, IGL tabseN expressed his disappointment, thanked his fans for their support and took responsibility for his team’s poor performance. In the comments, his fans tried to cheer him up, but the expectations for BIG after the victory in the Roobet Cup final against FaZe were correspondingly high, which now increases the disappointment..
I’m broken, thanks for the support, see you in the arena as spectators. Going into the players break like this is even more unbearable. We gave it our all, I’ll take it on my head.
– tabseN (@tabseNcs) July 6, 2022
Sprout almost pulls off the surprise
Things didn’t go particularly well for Sprout either. The mixed team of Germans, Danes and a Romanian had to bow out of the Upper Bracket of the Play-In Stage in their first match against Heroic on Overpass with a crushing 16:3. In the lower bracket they had to play against paiN Gaming from Brazil, who they defeated 2:1 (Ancient 16:10, Dust II 12:16, Vertigo 16:10). Next up for the Berlin Esports organisation was Team Vitality. They then had to admit defeat to them in a close match with 1:2 (Vertigo 22:20, Dust II 11:16, Overpass 10:16) and were thus eliminated from the tournament.
@SpiidiCS is holding us in the round pic.twitter.com/HkZFEiTFTV
– Sprout (@sproutGG) July 6, 2022
Even though the fans were disappointed, they thanked us in the comments for the great matches and the high level of gameplay. The last hope for a successful German tournament finish rests with MOUZ. However, with NAVI, they have one of the best teams in the entire tournament ahead of them. On 7 July at 4 p.m., the match against the roster from the Ukraine will start.
If you want to follow the IEM Cologne, you should pay a visit to the official Twitch channel of the ESL or 99 Damage.
