Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta has forecasted that Sentinels will not advance past the group stage at Valorant Champions 2024. During a co-stream, he analyzed their problems and explained why he believes the team won’t recover in time for the event.
Sentinels entered the Valorant World Championships with little momentum, having lost two matches before the event. The North American team was defeated by Gen.G 2-0 in their first group stage match and is now preparing for a lower bracket match against FunPlus Phoenix on August 8.
NRG Esports’ FNS has openly stated his belief that Sentinels won’t perform well at this event. On an August 2 co-stream, he elaborated on his viewpoint.
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“The highs Sentinels experienced earlier this year were amazing, but the recent lows over the past 2-3 months have been devastating… They can break you mentally,” he said.
The VCT Masters Reykjavík champion expressed doubt that the team could overcome their negative emotions and poor form in 2024 or at Valorant Champions.
FNS also addressed fans who blame coaching for Sentinels’ struggles, responding to someone in his chat who mentioned the team’s head coach suggesting players “just have to lock in” after losses.
“You’re overly criticizing the team because they’re losing. If they were winning, you wouldn’t care if Kaplan repeated those words,” FNS said.
“Because they’re losing, you’re attributing it to the coach’s comments… In reality, it might just be form-related. There are many more realistic issues with Sentinels than people think.”
Sentinels started the year strong by winning the VCT Americas Kickoff tournament and then secured a Masters Madrid trophy. However, they missed out on Masters Shanghai after going 2-3 in VCT Americas Stage 1. The team slightly improved in Stage 2, going 3-1, but still had to rely on other teams underperforming to qualify for Valorant Champions.
Additionally, Sentinels faced challenges outside the game, such as being voted the “most overrated” team at the World Championship by a panel of 100 VCT pros.
Whether Sentinels will exit early from Valorant Champions remains uncertain, but they currently lack positive momentum heading into their elimination match against FPX.
