Three-time Overwatch World Cup defending champion South Korea made it through to the group stage of this year's world cup, but they were overshadowed by the United States' dominant performance in Group A on Friday.
France, China, Denmark and the Netherlands also advanced to the Overwatch World Cup playoffs. Those six teams will play a single-elimination tournament at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, on Saturday.
Denmark and South Korea will square off for the right to meet the United States in a semifinal. The other semifinal will feature China against the winner of France and the Netherlands.
The United States won all 12 maps it played to complete a perfect group stage. After opening with a 3-0 win over France, the U.S. team replicated that performance against Sweden, the United Kingdom and South Korea.
Corey "Corey" Nigra was a major reason for his team's dominant performance. His execution as a main DPS for Team USA allowed his teammates like Shane "Rawkus" Flaherty to shine.
South Korea lost 2-1 to France besides losing to the United States. The South Koreans, however, took 3-0 wins over Great Britain and Sweden to finish in third place in Group A.
The second-place team from Group A was France, which edged South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom by 2-1 scores.
No team from Group B was able to replicate the United States' perfect stage, but the Chinese came close. Except for dropping one map in their match against the Netherlands, China was perfect.
The Danes were able to snag the second position in Group B. Denmark topped Russia, the Netherlands and Canada by 2-1 scores.
One of the lowest-ranked teams in the preliminary stage, the Netherlands continued writing its underdog story on Friday. After dropping two of three maps to China, the Netherlands pulled out 2-1 victories over Canada and Russia to claim third place in Group B.
Overwatch World Cup group stage results:
Group A
1. United States, 4-0
2. France, 3-1
3. South Korea, 2-2
4. Sweden, 1-3
5. United Kingdom, 0-4
Group B
1. China, 4-0
2. Denmark, 3-1
3. Netherlands, 2-2
4. Russia, 1-3
5. Canada, 0-4
Saturday schedule (all times ET)
Quarterfinal 1: Denmark vs. South Korea, 1:30 p.m.
Quarterfinal 2: France vs. Netherlands, 3:15 p.m.
Semifinal 1: Denmark-South Korea winner vs. United States, 5 p.m.
Semifinal 2: France-Netherlands winner vs. China, 6:45 p.m.
Third-place match: Semifinal losers, 8:30 p.m.
Final: Semifinal winners, 10:15 p.m.
-- Field Level Media