Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo's team suffers an early loss in the IEM Rio Major qualifier after dropping a hefty lead.

Update 17:10 : Second-round matchups are set

1-0 pool
FURIA vs. Evil Geniuses
Imperial vs. 9z
MIBR vs. Liquid
paiN vs. Complexity

0-1 pool
Nouns vs. Infinity
00NATION vs. Isurus
O PLANO vs. TeamOne
ATK vs. ARCTIC

The first day of the IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR has gotten underway and witnessed its first upset in an otherwise predictable first round of play at the event taking place in Stockholm, Sweden.

Despite being in a winning position at 14-7 on the Terrorist side of Overpass, 00NATION dropped the hefty lead to a resilient and aggressive 9z squad who had their AWPer, Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares, firing on all cylinders and leading his team back into contention for the map and secure it in overtime.

With only six Major spots on offer at the 16-team Americas RMR, a loss in the opening round puts 00NATION under great pressure already. They now have to either win three matches in a row to secure a spot at their home Major outright or at least go 3-2 to go on to fight in the sixth-place decider.

The first round of play in Stockholm has otherwise seen the favorites prevail. FURIA, Imperial, Evil Geniuses, paiN, and Complexity are all in the 1-0 pool now, with MIBR now being in a lead in their opener against O PLANO and Liquid about to face TeamOne in the final match of round 1.

The second round will follow later in the day, starting at 18:00 . 00NATION's opponent in the 0-1 pool is yet to be determined, as it depends on the final two results of the first round.

Here are the current standings of the Americas RMR: