Vitality roar past SAW to reach Cologne final

The first semi-final of IEM Cologne 2024 has drawn to a close, seeing  Vitality  claim their place in the final over Portuguese underdogs  SAW  after a confident 2-0 victory.

With this win,  Vitality  have secured their third final in 2024, offering an important opportunity considering the fact that the European side is one of the few top sides to be without a trophy throughout the year so far.

Conversely for  SAW , this result puts an end to the best run that Christopher "⁠ MUTiRis ⁠" Fernandes's men have had in a Big Event, one that SAW them move past top squads G2 and FaZe while also securing their first appearance in front of a crowd of Cologne's magnitude.

"We SAW what happened to FaZe yesterday, and we did not underestimate [ SAW ]," shared  Vitality  captain Dan "⁠ apEX ⁠" Madesclaire following the team's semi-final victory.

"They have had such a strong run, but we focused on ourselves, and it paid off."

The series kicked off on  SAW 's pick of Nuke, where the Portuguese squad managed to stand toe-to-toe with their opponent throughout much of the first half, taking an early lead on the offense.

After squandering a round by losing to pistols,  SAW  were soon beaten back further by a clutch from  apEX , allowing  Vitality  to tie things up and shift the momentum in their favor.

After turning a 3-5 deficit into a 7-5 half,  Vitality  continued to turn up the heat on  SAW  on the offense, allowing just one round to slip away as they stole away Nuke 13-6.

By the time  Vitality 's pick of Dust2 began, the international side was fully into the swing of things, stamping out a deflated  SAW  throughout the T-side to bag a 10-2 half before closing out the map not long after with a 13-5 scoreline.