Gen.G vs 100 Thieves betting tips – ESL One: Road to Rio

GEN.G vs 100 THIEVES ESL ONE: ROAD TO RIO – NORTH AMERICA BETTING PREVIEW

The North American section of ESL One: Road to Rio will kick off this Wednesday as Gen.G and 100 Thieves lock horns in the opening fixture of Group A.

Gen.G are hoping to make up for a disappointing exit at FLASHPOINT, where they secured a spot in the playoffs but failed to make it far. While Damian “daps” Steele and co. bounced back from their 0-2 loss against Cloud9 in the upper bracket quarter-finals with a clean sweep of FunPlus Phoenix, they went down to 1-2 against an in-form HAVU outfit in the second round of the lower bracket.

While Gen.G would be annoyed to have missed the top four at FLASHPOINT, this young squad has already shown flashes of greatness since coming together in December. They won the DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020 title in February, so they should fancy their chances at ESL One: Road to Rio – North America. What’s more, the recent CS:GO update that nerfed Krieg should, in theory, work in favour of Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand, who can return to using his beloved M4A4 gun, but it’s hard to say whether this team really need more firepower to succeed.

100 Thieves enter Wednesday’s bout with somewhat questionable form. They failed to make much noise at ESL Pro League Season 11: North America, where Aaron “AZR” Ward and his crew edged past Swole Patrol (2-1) and Evil Genuises (2-1) but lost to Team Liquid (0-2), MiBR (0-2) and FURIA (1-2) to finish the tournament in fifth place.

Although 100 Thieves are ninth in the CS:GO esports world rankings, their recent showings are less than inspiring. This will be their first match in over three weeks, while their 41.7% win rate over the past three months is a big concern.

Perhaps those numbers won’t mean much here, as this tournament will be played online. It’s also worth noting that 100 Thieves boast one of the best coaches in the scene in Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović, who should do a fine job in preparing his squad to face Gen.G.

GEN.G vs 100 THIEVES ESL ONE: ROAD TO RIO – NORTH AMERICA BETTING PREDICTIONS

100 Thieves are heavy favourites, as expected, but we would not underestimate Gen.G. While daps and his crew looked shaky at FLASHPOINT, there are not a lot of positives we can take from 100T’s ESL Pro League venture either.

What’s more, these two sides match up nicely due to their similar map pools. We can expect bans on Vertigo and Overpass, which leaves Mirage, Dust II, Nuke, Train and Inferno open. Gen.G boast with a higher win percentage on all five of those maps, meaning this match could be much closer than the odds suggest.

While 100 Thieves should come out ahead due to their superior quality and stronger synergy, we don’t expect to see a clean sweep in this online bout. Esports bookmakers are offering generous odds on a three-map contest, and we recommend taking them.