Liquid vs Spirit at CS:GO IEM Rio Major 2022 - Predictions, head-to-head, livestream details, and more

Twenty-four of the world's best CS:GO teams convened in Brazil earlier this month to compete for the title of IEM Rio Major 2022. One week into the Majors, only eleven sides remain, with six of them competing for the last three spots in the final stage of the event, the Champions Stage.

So far in the Legends Stage, teams like FURIA, Cloud9, Heroic, Outsiders, and Fnatic have overthrown their competitors to earn an early qualification for the Champions Stage. Meanwhile, Bad News Eagles, Sprout, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Vitality, and the reigning Major champions, FaZe Clan, were eliminated from the tournament in the Legends Stage.

On Day 4 of the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage, North America's top representative, Team Liquid, will take on one of Europe's most promising CS:GO rosters, Team Spirit, in a best-of-three matchup. Being the final advancement match of this stage, the winners will qualify for the Champions Stage, whereas the loser will be eliminated from the tournament.

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Team Liquid vs Team Spirit - Who will win this Advancement match and qualify for CS:GO's IEM Rio Major 2022 Champions Stage?

Predictions

Team Spirit is a predominantly young roster with ample talent within its reach. 17-year-old AWPer w0nderful and 19-year-old rifler Patsi are among some of the most promising youngsters here at the Rio Majors.

Although all five players of Spirit have been together for less than a year, they have displayed their strengths as tier-1 contenders with their performances in tournaments like IEM Road to Rio: European RMR A, PGL Major Antwerp 2022, and FiReLEAGUE 2022: Global Finals.

Team Liquid, on the other hand, has a well-established roster with an equal mix of veteran players and young talent. Players like EliGE, NAF, and nitr0 are some of the most experienced North American players currently in CS:GO. With the addition of a productive AWPer like oSee and a tactical genius like YEKINDAR, Liquid is on the right track to success.

When compared to Spirit, Team Liquid has a more stable roster with players who have competed at the highest level of CS:GO numerous times. In terms of raw skills, both teams can be considered to be on equal grounds.

However, taking into consideration their experience and potential to thrive under pressure, fans can expect Team Liquid to win this matchup and advance to the Champions Stage.

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Head-to-head

The current rosters of Team Liquid and Team Spirit have played against each other only once before when both sides met in the Group Stage of IEM Cologne 2022. This encounter ended as a 2-1 victory for Spirit.

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Recent results

Liquid and Spirit entered the IEM Rio Major 2022 directly in the Legends Stage. Both teams also share the same track record (2-2) in the tournament's Legends Stage.

Team Liquid kicked off the tournament with a disastrous defeat to MOUZ. They later regained their momentum by defeating Sprout and NAVI in a convincing fashion. Liquid were then sent to their first advancement match, which they lost to Heroic after a close matchup.

Team Spirit went up against Bad News Eagles in their first match of the tournament. After an opening victory, the former was matched against FURIA and Outsiders, both of whom crushed them after close combat.

Following a victory over Sprout in their Round 3 elimination match, Spirit currently find themselves fighting to advance to the Champions Stage as one of the top eight teams in the Majors.

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Potential lineups

Team Liquid

• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
• Keith "NAF" Markovic
• Joshua "oSee" Ohm
• Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella (IGL)
• Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinski
• Damian "daps" Steele (Coach)

Team Spirit

• Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov (IGL)
• Boris "magixx" Vorobyev
• Robert "Patsi" Isyanov
• Pavel "s1ren" Ogloblin
• Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov
• Sergey "hally" Shavayev (Coach)

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When and where to watch

Fans of CS:GO can check out ESL CS:GO's official Twitch channel to view the final matchday of the ongoing IEM Rio Major 2022 Legends Stage live. Team Liquid will play against Team Spirit in a best-of-three series on November 8, 2022, at 2 pm PDT / 10 pm CET / November 9, 2022, at 2.30 am IST.