Finland versus Poland

I watched the Finland versus Poland match. It was, no exaggeration, the first ETTV match I've watched since CPC2. And, it was awful.

Half the Polish team are relatively unknown. This isn't just a case of being away from the scene (and not being up-to-date). Dialer and wiesiek are well established players, albeit relatively inactive and without any real success. zMk has moved up to the top tier of ET, and you can easily trace his progression if you've followed ET for a while.

The Finnish team, despite their loss, was very strong on paper. Stuka was the only 'weak' player, and he's in the same bracket as someone like zMk (if not higher). Which begs the question, how can Poland with only half a team of known stars beat Finland so easily?

The Polish grenades were immaculate, especially on Supply' attack. Literally every Finnish spawn there were at least two 'nades on each front door. Finland 'lost it' when Squall went stupid as the truck hit the west corner and he decided not to pick up his team mate. He tried to kill the engineer with his pistol. He didn't and then killed out.

This left the Polish player to take the truck home, without any trouble, meaning the rest of the team could focus on spawn camping. I was surprised at this lapse because Finland actually dug in well after a ridiculous first stage defense, I thought they'd manage another minute or two, at least.

Goldrush was just boring to watch. Poland were all over Finland from start to finish.

On a separate note. I like, for varieties sake, wiesieks' style. He doesn't have the best aim, but he's put in the aiming category (and spots on the maps), so he has to face the likes of Squall etc.

He compensates for his ('worse') aim with a more defensive style which means he usually catches people out. I only remember one occasion in two maps where he was completely out aimed, but it was irrelevant as he had already done his job. Camping the bottom of tunnel on Supply defense probably caused at least two or three Finnish attacks to be broken down. And, at least one plant to be wasted. This was probably the most enjoyable 'moment' of the match, from a spectator point of view.

Bad game. I hope the final will be better. If someone wants to be helpful, get me an IP for the Belgium versus Germany match!