The Overwatch World Cup has just finished up, taking place this past weekend. The event was slightly overshadowed by all that’s happening in the Blizzard world, including BlizzCon 2019, the protests of Bizzard at the event surrounding the Hearthstone ban, and even the announcement of Overwatch 2. Either way, the World Cup came and went, and left the United States with their first victory in the event’s four-year history.
The United States team was comprised of members of six Overwatch League teams: Corey “Corey” Nigra (DPS) of the Washington Justice, Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa (DPS) of the Los Angeles Valiant, Indy “SPACE” Halpern (Tank) of the Los Angeles Gladiators, Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty (Support) of the Houston Outlaws, and Jay “sinatraa” Won (DPS), Matthew “super” DeLisi (Tank), and Grant “moth” Espe (Support), all of the San Fransisco Shock. The team was coached by Aaron “Aero” Atkins of the Dallas Fuel. The team, who were part of the A group in the Group Stage, went undefeated in their four matches (and didn’t even drop a single map).
Due to team USA’s dominant play in the Group Stages, they skipped the Quarterfinals, placing directly into the Semifinals. USA played South Korea in the Semis, defeating the South Koreans 3-1. After China defeated their opponent in France, also 3-1, the two teams met in the Finals. After another showing of dominant play, the United States emerged victoriously, holding China off the scoreboard for a final sweep. After the games were all said and done, the United States took gold, China took silver, and South Korea defeated France for bronze.
sinatraa was named MVP of the games, adding another accolade to the growing list after being named the Overwatch League MVP this past season. The victory for the United States marks its first entry into the top three of the Overwatch World cup, as they had failed to do so between 2016-2018.