Team Vitality is refusing to bow out in Portugal.
Facing elimination for the fourth consecutive match, the French squad managed to survive another round at the BLAST Open Fall 2026 in Porto. However, their Friday performance elevated their survival to an entirely new level.
In the playoff quarterfinals against FURIA, Vitality dropped the opening map but rallied to win the next two, securing the series victory. Meanwhile, the other quarterfinal featured Team Falcons advancing without much drama, as they swept G2 Esports 2-0.
Heading into Saturday’s semifinals, Group A winner Team Spirit will face Team Falcons, while Group B champion MOUZ will look to send Vitality home.
The $1.1 million Counter-Strike 2 tournament kicked off with 16 teams competing in a double-elimination group stage. Group winners progressed directly to the playoff semifinals, runners-up advanced to the quarterfinals as top seeds, and the two third-place finishers entered the quarterfinals as lower seeds. The remaining teams were eliminated from the competition.
The single-elimination playoffs in Porto feature best-of-three matches in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the grand final on Sunday set to be a best-of-five affair.
The winning team will take home $250,000 ($150,000 for the players, $100,000 for the club) alongside three BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens.
After falling 13-6 on Nuke, Vitality rebounded with a 13-11 victory on Cache and a dominant 13-4 win on Dust II. Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool topped the scoreboard for the winners with 44 kills, while France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut contributed 39 kills in the intense match. FURIA’s Latvia’s Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis notched 41 kills but finished with a match-high 47 deaths.
In the other quarterfinal, Falcons swiftly eliminated G2 with a 13-6 win on Inferno and a 13-9 victory on Dust II. The top three individual kill tallies belonged entirely to Falcons players, with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovac recording 37 kills and Russians Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov tallying 36 and 32 respectively.
BLAST Open Fall prize pool, with money winnings (player prize, team share) and BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens
1. $250,000 ($150,000, $100,000), 3 BFFT
2. $160,000 ($60,000, $100,000), 1 BFFT
3-4. $115,000 ($40,000, $75,000), 1 BFFT
5-6. $75,000 ($20,000, $55,000), 1 BFFT — G2 Esports, FURIA
7-8. $50,000 ($10,000, $40,000) — Aurora Gaming, FUT Esports
9-12. $32,500 ($7,500, $25,000) — M80, Natus Vincere, IC Esports, Legacy
13-16. $20,000 ($5,000, $15,000) — DENDELE CS, paiN Gaming, Lynn Vision Gaming, 9z Team
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- Clarke pushes SFA to secure updated employment contract Clark added: “Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer.” “So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove. We negotiated non‑stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game.” “And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract.” “It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.” “But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.” Scotland beat Haiti 1‑0 but lost by the same score to Morocco before a 3‑0 loss to Brazil left them waiting for an unlikely series of results to allow them to progress as one of the better third‑place sides. “We had to stay for four or five days [in Charlotte], the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled. “I knew we needed four points. I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.” Clarke revealed he spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game and sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028. Meantime, he spoke to new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli last week to wish him well and believes “even Scotland” cannot fail to qualify given two spots in the finals will be reserved for the best‑ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner‑up.
![Clarke pushes SFA to secure updated employment contract Clark added: “Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer.” “So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove. We negotiated non‑stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game.” “And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract.” “It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.” “But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.” Scotland beat Haiti 1‑0 but lost by the same score to Morocco before a 3‑0 loss to Brazil left them waiting for an unlikely series of results to allow them to progress as one of the better third‑place sides. “We had to stay for four or five days [in Charlotte], the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled. “I knew we needed four points. I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.” Clarke revealed he spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game and sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028. Meantime, he spoke to new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli last week to wish him well and believes “even Scotland” cannot fail to qualify given two spots in the finals will be reserved for the best‑ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner‑up.](https://i1.wp.com/ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/branded_sport/1200/cpsprodpb/ce0a/live/51cc6050-a912-11f1-b109-879e35c24276.jpg?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "Clarke pushes SFA to secure updated employment contract Clark added: “Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer.” “So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove. We negotiated non‑stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game.” “And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract.” “It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.” “But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.” Scotland beat Haiti 1‑0 but lost by the same score to Morocco before a 3‑0 loss to Brazil left them waiting for an unlikely series of results to allow them to progress as one of the better third‑place sides. “We had to stay for four or five days [in Charlotte], the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled. “I knew we needed four points. I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.” Clarke revealed he spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game and sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028. Meantime, he spoke to new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli last week to wish him well and believes “even Scotland” cannot fail to qualify given two spots in the finals will be reserved for the best‑ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner‑up.")
.jpeg?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "Tilak Varma Confirms KL Rahul’s Absence from Duleep Trophy 2026 Final")
