The 2019 Overwatch World Cup final was a short series, but it ended with a big result. The United States of America have won the Overwatch World Cup, beating China in a 3-0 sweep.
The end of a dynasty
For those who didn’t know, the previous Overwatch World Cups have always ended with South Korea winning gold. Their dominance in the international scene was unprecedented, with them convincingly winning every match when it mattered most. They did show signs of weakness last year but still proved their skill and beat China to win the trophy. The year before that, though, they didn’t show a single ounce of weakness in their run to first place.
However, this year seemed clearly different. Their admirable performance in the group stage certainly showed that they were still a contender. But, they showed a surprise weakness in a loss to the United States. Every cylinder from the United States roster was firing, and it led them to first in the group.
But surely South Korea would improve for the knockouts, right? With a 3-0 win against Denmark, it looked like they might have recovered. But then they got stomped on by the United States once again, only managing to win a single map this time. They did win the bronze medal match, however, so they didn’t miss the podium completely.
The ample competition strikes
We all knew South Korea would be one of the teams challenging the United States for the final. However, only half of the games in the knockouts ended in sweeps, far less than in the group stages. The parity was much more obvious, with France and China also putting up strong fights in the brackets.
One of the biggest surprises was the Netherlands, the only team that made it into the knockouts from the preliminaries. They showed off why they made it in their map win but unfortunately lost to a powerful France team. In that match, both teams showed plenty of talent not in the Overwatch League, such as Lucas “Leaf” Loison for France and Jeffrey “Vizility” de Vries for the Netherlands.
However, an opponent from last year’s finals returned, hoping to stop the United States from taking the championship and instead win the first of their own. This opponent was team China, clearly just as strong as in their impressive run from last year’s World Cup. These players, who were unknowns outside of the Chinese region in 2018, gained plenty of experience in the most recent season of the Overwatch League. This showed in their run to the finals this year, having the same great team coordination and interesting strategies. Yet even they fell prey to the United States’ run to the trophy this year.
The best team in the world?
The United States blitzed their opposition in the entire World Cup this year, showing how far they’ve come from years past. Of course, the connection between this team and the Overwatch League-winning San Francisco Shock is obvious. Matthew “super” DeLisi, Grant “moth” Espe, and Jay “sinatraa” Won – three key players from that team – played for the national team. Specifically with Sinatraa, he managed to match South Korean player Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang as a player who won both the Overwatch League MVP and World Cup MVP.
Does this make the United States team the best in the world, though? That argument could be made, especially with other star performances from players like Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty from the Houston Outlaws and Corey “Corey” Nigra from the Washington Justice. Of course, it is hard to compare international and Overwatch League teams. But one thing is for sure: the United States are the team to beat for the 2020 Overwatch League World Cup.
And that was all for the 2019 Overwatch World Cup. Make sure to stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Overwatch and Overwatch 2 news.
