Tomorrow, August 12th, a knockout match will be held between the underdogs of Group C. In it, representatives from Japan - ZETA DIVISION will face off against the American players from NRG Esports. We'll tell you what to expect from the meeting below.

ZETA DIVISION made it to the World Championship by winning the VCT 2023: Pacific Last Chance Qualifier, in which they defeated Team Secret in the finals with a score of 3-1. The team's first match in the group stage of Valorant Champions 2023 was against favorites Fnatic. The Japanese team was unlucky in this regard because Fnatic is currently considered the strongest team in the entire tournament and the main contender for victory. They proved this in the first match, demolishing ZETA DIVISION with a score of 2-0.

NRG made it to the current championship thanks to their results during the regular season. In the last Valorant Champions Tour 2023: Americas League, the team took 2nd place, earning them an invitation to Masters Tokyo and Valorant Champions 2023. Despite a decent result during the season, the team completely failed the first match in the group stage of the championship. Their opponents were the inexperienced Chinese players from Bilibili Gaming, but despite NRG being the favorites of the match, they were defeated by their opponents 0-2.

Who will win?

Our editorial team leans towards the opinion that the victory in the match will go to ZETA DIVISION. The Japanese team is a top-2 team in their region, usually performing well in international competitions. NRG is also a consistently strong team, but the main criticism towards them is their last match. Being the favorite against inexperienced opponents, the team failed to maintain the initiative and lost the match. On the other hand, the loss can be attributed to the fact that their opponents were poorly studied, as they had not participated in international tournaments. We want to note that the bookmakers consider NRG to be the favorites of the match, so the decision is up to you.

Also read: The underdogs of the championship have confirmed their title - FunPlus Phoenix are leaving the tournament, and unexpectedly along with them Team Liquid.