It All Comes Down to Sunday
Let’s break down Saturday’s performances and see how the teams look entering Championship Sunday. These rankings are based on team performances on Saturday results alone.
NRG (#1)
NRG had a familiar matchup with The Ultimates, and ultimately came away with the victory in Game 7 in a series that ended up being closer than it should have based on the statistics. NRG generated the biggest xG spread on the day, but allowed Chronic (170%) and FirstKiller (152%) to convert more than their expected goals. Daniel generated the most xG per game out of anyone on Saturday (1.08), and he’ll need to convert on Sunday if they are going to lift the trophy.
GeeKay (#2)
GeeKay put together a great series against SSG, eliminating the young NA team in the process. They find themselves up against a Wildcard team that is taking many by surprise and playing a tight rotational game of Rocket League. Look for oaly (202%) and Archie (156%) to continue converting on their chances when they count against a stingy Wildcard defense if they are to punch their ticket to the next round.
Karmine Corp (#3)
KC found their footing in front of the home crowd, eliminating NIP while putting together a solid performance in the process. Atow was unable to find the back of the net in the series despite generating the most Expected Goals on the team; fortunately Vatira was able to pick up the slack and convert 181% of his xG. KC had The Ultimates’ number to secure Major 1 in Birmingham, let’s see if that continues in Lyon.
Wildcard (#4)
Wildcard continues to be the enigma of the tournament, putting up a very impressive xG spread against Team Falcons. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to convert when it counted with 39% conversion on offense and 158% on defense. Don’t let the 4-1 result fool you, Wildcard put up a heck of a performance and the stats paint a different story. Falcons main stage experience shone through, but now that Wildcard has main stage experience in Lyon, don’t count them out just yet.
Team Falcons (#5)
It’s crazy to rank a team with a bye to the semifinals so low, but with the statistical performance against Wildcard it makes sense. They were one of two remaining teams that allowed a negative xG spread, meaning they were supposed to concede m
