The Brazilian fans at the Riocentro venue, home of the IEM Rio CS:GO Major for the Challengers and Legends Stages, have been a spectacle in their own right.
The venue is packed with a crowd that has been chanting nonstop to all Brazilian teams—Imperial, FURIA, and 00 Nation—in addition to 9z, a South American team with two Uruguayans, one Chilean, one Argentinian, Brazilian AWPer Lucas “nqz” Soares, and Brazilian head coach Rafael “zakk” Fernandes, setting up an incredible and unforeseen atmosphere for the matches.
Related: The crowd at IEM Rio Major CS:GO is chanting to Brazilian teams nonstop. What are they saying?
And all of the energy that the crowd has delivered thus far has not gone unnoticed. Valve, the developer of CS:GO, said yesterday there has never been a crowd like the one at IEM Rio Major in previous Majors. And today was the day for 9z’s Uruguayan in-game leader Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez to praise the Brazilian fans following 9z victory over Evil Geniuses.
“Today we felt [the crowd] a lot,” max said in an interview with Dust 2 Brasil. “9z is an Argentinian organization, a South American team, with people from everywhere. We have lots of Brazilians in the team and we represent the whole South America. Brazil is also 9z. It was very beautiful, I want to feel this my whole life.”
9z have felt something no one else felt in IEM Rio Major thus far. The Brazilian crowd supported them against European and North American teams but also cheered against them when facing Imperial, as any CS:GO fan could expect.
The feelings of max echo what the FURIA captain Andrei “arT” Piovezan said earlier today. The Brazilian in-game leader said after beating OG in a nail-biter they felt the crowd’s energy and knew they would beat the Europeans in overtime.
There will be a crowd for all of the IEM Rio Major stages and it will be even bigger when the competition reaches the playoffs as the action will move to a bigger venue: Jeunesse Arena.
