ForZe vs 9INE Prediction: an Easy Win for the Russian Team

While the best teams in the world will be playing in ESL Pro League Season 16, an equally exciting tournament is taking place on the Dash 2 stage. ESL Challenger League Season 42 kicks off on August 30 and runs through October 23. Sixteen teams will compete for $50,000 in prize money and one berth in the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference. Crazy highlights, unpredictable results, and four CIS teams. All this and much more awaits CS fans in the next two months.

On August 30, forZe and 9INE will clash in the opening match of ESL Challenger League Season 42. We'll soon find out which team will be stronger. The meeting is scheduled to start at 20:00.

ForZe is in great shape. The team has won six of its last seven matches. The only defeat was by K23 in the IEM Road to Rio qualifications. The guys fulfilled their main task at the beginning of the season and made it to the European RMR. Yes, the team did not have severe opponents, but the result was still good. As for the upcoming match, forZe should not come up with anything. The opponent will strike Inferno or Vertigo, and the Russian team will have an opportunity to pick Dust2. It's the team's best map, with an 81% win percentage and 16 maps played in the last three months. ForZe has beaten strong teams on this map, like Sprout, Imperial, and 9z. There is no doubt that on Dust2 forZe can win, and they can do it confidently. 

9INE looks like an outsider in the upcoming match. The team is significantly inferior to forZe in the HLTV ranking, ranking only 58th. There are no players with decent experience against strong teams there, either. SZPERO has been playing for a long time, but he's never made it to the tier-1 stage and never played for strong teams on tier-2. Of the interesting results, we can mention the victory over Eternal Fire, but such an outcome looks random. After that, the guys lost to BLUEJAYS without any chances. As for the maps, it's hard to assume that 9INE will pick. This team only played four bo1 matches in which they only played Mirage and Overpass. They will not choose the first map for sure. The Russian team is too strong on Mirage. Overpass, on the other hand, doesn't look too bad. ForZe has a 50% win percentage on this map, which is one of the worst in the team's map pool. Nevertheless, 9INE's victory is hard to believe. Now the level of forZe is higher, as the upcoming match should confirm.

ForZe is the favorite of the match. The Russian team must confidently beat their opponent. We bet on the correct score 2:0 in their favor.