Finally, after five months and few dozen matches played we are up to find out who will win NationsCup XIII. Few days separate us from the real clash of the titans because Team France and Team Netherlands are undisputedly best teams of that NationsCup. Let`s take a look at their road to that epic final.

Team France didn`t lost or even draw any single war. So far all their opponents weren`t even close to beating them, including their final adversary - Team Netherlands. But let's start from beginning, in their first three wars (without war vs Team Hungary which was a noshow) they literally destroyed their opponents. In their first war they beat Team Finland 21:7. After that war time has come for a war which was a big question mark for many people, mostly because of conjectures and rumors concerning Team Germany performance. But on 14th of March we quickly realised who will be the undisputed champion of group B. Team France easly won that war 20:8. After that meaningful victory they repeated that score with their next opponent - Team United Kingdom. By wining that war they deprived Team United Kingdom of playoff spot in the favor of Team Finland. Obviously Team France finished group stage as 1st with an amazing net result 62/23 ! So now they had to wait for result of war between Team Finland and Team Poland to know their first playoffs opponent. After a tense war Team Poland won in overtime and they had to stand against unbeaten Team France. Even though they managed to achieve best score against Team France so far, they still lost 12:16. In their last war before final they meet Team Netherlands and they beat them 17:11 with a great 11:3 start on V2 Rocket Facility.

Team Netherlands performance in group stage wasn`t that enchanting as Team France was, but still they didn`t have much problems with being a strongest team in Group A. They started their road to the final on 10th of February when they beat Team Poland 16:12 and few hours later they improve that score with one round against Team Spain. Thanks to overplaying their next opponent - Team Portugal on first map they managed to achieve best overall score so far - 18:10. Team Netherlands finished group stage with a 16:12 victory over Team Isreal and thanks to that, same as Team France they finished first in group. Even though their net result was worse (50/34) it`s still quice nice achievement to reach playoffs without any defeat or even a draw. Same as Team France they didn`t have to play in first playoffs round so they were able to unhurriedly wait for their opponent. In first round of Upper Bracket Team Germany gain a victory over Team Isreal so they automatically became Team France opponent in a second round. After drawning on both maps Team Netherlands needed a overtime to gain a possibility of facing Team France in the Upper Bracket Final. Team Netherlands wasn`t able to use solero which probably took effect in loosing V2 3:11. So that war was practically over after first map and even though Team Netherlands manage to won second one 9:5 they still lost whole war 12:16. Because of that loss Team Netherlands needed to won one more war in order to meet Team France once more in final. They had to beat Team Finland and they did it quite easly winning 19:9. Now they will have a opportunity to take a revenge on Team France for that humiliating loss.

Since that`s a Grand Final, Team France and Team Netherlands will fight on all three maps. In case of that there are still people who don`t know these maps - here they are:

And now let`s take a look at players predictions:

Crack3^: This NC final won't be too exciting I fear, despite the rule change to a 4-player rule we still can't field the 5/6 best dutch players(clanwhores :>) and now with vegie out of the picture this will be dificult ( as we're playing 3 maps, incl. hunt :d ) France have proven to be a strong nation that have the patience to play out important rounds, and can also rush to force errors in the opponent's play. This match will be decided on The Bridge as that's the last map. I think if we draw hunt and draw/maybe lose v2 we still have a good chance on bridge. Still, I hope that it will be a tense match. May the best nation win =)

BrianDJ: This final is between the 2 strongest nations in MoH:AA atm. France demonstrated how deadly efficient good teamwork can be. If we want to win this match then we need a very good day and good communications. I hope Dictator, our proud captain, will come up with a solution to beat those dirty unbeatable frogs! :-p

boomer: Such a match between imo the strongest nations of the moment will have its result decided on details. I think solero is their key player and it's gonna be hard to counter him, especially on The Bridge. But I hope our defense will stay as strong as it was against them in the previous match, although they had bad circumstances in that game. Goodluck NL

Inco^: Such a match between imo the strongest nations of the moment will have its result decided on details. I think solero is their key player and it's gonna be hard to counter him, especially on The Bridge. But I hope our defense will stay as strong as it was against them in the previous match, although they had bad circumstances in that game. At this level of competition you always need to surprise the opponent, to play smart and precise. Result will then depend on the form of the moment, recent activity of the actors of this game. Will be a hard and thense one.

P.S I had this strange feeling that Inco^ and boomer were creating their statements together on TS or something :)

CBooky

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