The Dane had an unforgettable start on Friday at the Strassenkicker base in Cologne. In his first Swiss round, Anders Vejrgang eventually lost in extra time despite winning 1-0 in the first leg. Rival Hisham Badreddine had recently won the 3rd eChampionship of the league with Viktoria Köln, but before the start he was still considered a clear outsider. That may have changed now: ‘Liboo7_’ was one of only four players to qualify for the round of 16 on Friday.
Vejrgang, on the other hand, had to tremble before the final Swiss round on Saturday. After the defeat against Badreddine, the Leipzig player confidently beat Marius Grundmann (6-0 and 7-4), but then narrowly lost to his RBLZ teammate Umut Gültekin (1-2 and 4-4). The 18-year-old had to beat Felix Breitkopf from Rostock to continue challenging for the German individual championship title.
Defender freezes, Vejrgang ends comeback
At first everything went according to plan: ‘RBLZ_Vejrgang’ won the first leg 2-1. In the second game, Breitkopf went one step further and tied the score in regulation time; the extension was necessary. The Hansa professional took the lead with two goals a few minutes before the end of the match and the feeling of Vejrgang’s early elimination was very close. However, the RBLZ eSports player fought back from bankruptcy, came within a goal and forced a penalty shootout in extra time. Breitkopf seemed to have already defended his last attack.
Due to a late entry and a “frozen” defender, as Rostock coach Markus Kunze explained in the VBL interview, Vejrgang got a last corner. He played briefly, combined into the box and, again with some luck, scored to tie the final score. The Dane also had to fall behind in the penalty shootout before winning the duel. “I will remember this match forever,” said ‘RBLZ_Vejrgang’.
A last-minute comeback is not enough for ‘BerkayLion’
In the second round, the Leipzig player did not let tensions arise: in the first leg Vejrgang outwitted Max Julius Gröne 5-1 and in the second he lost without consequences 1-2. The most notable encounter took place between Dylan Neuhausen and current Bremen runner-up Berkay Demirci. In the first match ‘DullenMIKE’ had a 3:2 lead, which was later tied 3:2 by ‘BerkayLion’; another goal in the last minute gave the Werder eSports player extra time.
But Demirci’s comeback qualities ran out. With a “torch in the corner”, as heard from the VBL commentary chair, ‘DullenMIKE’ took the lead again in the 116th minute of the match. This time he did not give up the lead. Therefore, the 2022 VBL singles champion can continue dreaming of winning a second title.
Bederke fails to win a second title, the secret favorite is also out
Leipzig’s Gültekin was able to avoid the middle round and went directly to the round of 16. In addition to the success in RB’s duel against Vejrgang, the 2021 champion also beat Grundmann (6-1 and 4-2). But he had to admit defeat to Marc Landwehr from Leverkusen after 2: 1 and 1: 2 on penalties. Against Ali Oskoui Rad decided which knockout round the Leipzig player would enter. In the end, Gültekin narrowly defeated the Bochum player 3:2 and 1:1.
Yannic Bederke is completely different: the 2020 German singles champion lost to Roee Feldman from Dortmund (1-1 and 0-4), Furkan Kayacik from Wehen (1-3 and 3-5) and David Queck from Freiburg (3-3 and 2). :4). A second title for Augsburg is therefore no longer on the table. The same applies to Grundmann, club champion Jamie Bartel and St. Pauli Kamal Kamboj, who finished Friday with three defeats.
Among the players eliminated after the Swiss phase and the intermediate round were also Gröne, Oskoui Rad, Gianluca Mautone of Freiburg, Koray Kücükgünar of St. Pauli and Richard Hormes of Gladbach. Luca Weber, considered the secret favorite, also lost the tournament on Sunday.
The second day of the VBL Grand Final can be followed on Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m. on the kicker eSport Twitch channel and on kicker.de/esport. Sunday’s decision starting at 3:30 p.m. will also be broadcast in this live broadcast. You can find all the matches and results of the final round in our summary.
