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 in Counter-Strike 2. The match will be played in a best-of-3 format. We analyzed the statistics of both teams and made a prediction for the outcome of the upcoming match.
Current Form
The average rating of Spirit in S-tier events over the last month is 6.4. During this period, the team participated in two major tournaments— IEM Cologne 2024 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2. However, their performance in Cologne was disappointing: Spirit finished 13th-16th, which was unexpected given their status as favorites. Nevertheless, the team showed a much better result at the event in Belgrade, winning the trophy.
In their last five matches, Spirit won four, defeating Eternal Fire, Wildcard Gaming, The Mongolz, and Team 3DMAX. The only loss during this period was to MIBR. The team made it to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 20, finishing only third in Group B.
The average rating of FURIA in S-tier events over the last month is 6.0. Like Spirit, the Brazilian team participated in IEM Cologne 2024 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2. The results in Cologne were also disappointing—FURIA finished 13th-16th. In the Belgrade tournament, they managed to reach the playoffs but couldn't advance further, finishing 5th-6th.
Of their last five matches, FURIA won three, defeating RED Canids twice and ATOX Esports once. However, losses to Team Vitality and Virtus.pro indicate that the team isn't always consistent against strong opponents. FURIA advanced to the ESL Pro League S20 playoffs from fourth place in Group D.
Map Pool
Spirit traditionally bans the Inferno map (28 times). For map picks, the team prefers Nuke (17 games and an 82% win rate) and Ancient (17 games and a 71% win rate). Spirit's most successful maps are Nuke with an impressive 82% win rate, Dust2 with 78%, and Ancient with 71%.
FURIA most often bans Anubis (32 times) or Ancient (21 times), depending on the opponent. Their main pick is Nuke (28 games with a 61% win rate), which may overlap with Team Spirit's preferences. Among FURIA's most successful maps are Inferno (71%) and Ancient (58%).
Head-to-Head
The last meeting between Spirit and FURIA took place 18 days ago at the tournament in Belgrade. The Serbian team claimed a convincing victory with a 2-0 score—13:4 on Mirage and 13:1 on Anubis. This result highlights Spirit's clear advantage in this matchup.
Prediction from Bo3.gg
Considering the current form of the teams and their recent results, Team Spirit appears to be the favorite in this match. Their victory in Belgrade, more consistent performances in recent matches, and strong map pool give them an edge. FURIA has shown mixed results, especially against top-tier teams, and their loss to Spirit 18 days ago further strengthens the Serbian team's position.
PREDICTION: 2:1 in favor of Spirit
ESL Pro League Season 20 is taking place from September 3 to 22 in Malta. Teams are competing for a prize pool of $750,000. You can follow the schedule and results of the championship via this link.
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