Team Canada’s coach for the Overwatch World Cup, Justin ‘Jayne’ Conroy, took shots at Team USA after their disappointing result at the BlizzCon playoffs.
In the first round of the playoffs, the USA suffered one of the biggest upset defeats in World Cup history. Despite being hailed as potential favorites for the entire tournament, USA were eliminated by the UK, who many viewed as the weakest team coming into the playoffs.
The embarrassment of USA’s defeat was compounded by their attitude coming into the event, carrying themselves with a level of arrogance that coach Aaron ‘Aero’ Atkins later stated was a deliberate decision to add to the theatricality of the tournament.
For Team Canada, however, it seems the USA’s demise was something of a blessing, as it meant less pressure for them to perform.
Canada coach Jayne revealed that going into their match against France, he actually used USA’s poor performance as a means of helping his players relax.
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“Good luck guys, remember no matter how badly you fuck up, at least we’re not the USA,” he apparently told them before their game.
Canada and the USA have a natural rivalry in the World Cup, only heightened by the fact that many of the players on the two national teams found themselves competing opposite their Overwatch League team-mates. Meanwhile, both Canada coach Jayne and USA coach Aero are coaches for Dallas Fuel.
In 2017, Canada outplaced the USA by reaching the finals. This year, the two teams met in the Los Angeles Qualifier and it was USA who came out on top in the head-to-head, but once again Canada had the last laugh by finishing third to USA’s 5-8.