GotFrag.com - In one of the most exciting matches of the first round, team SK of Sweden narrowly defeated team EG of the USA in 3 maps [16-8, 11-16, 16-13].

After a poor performance at ESWC Masters in South Korea last weekend, EG has been taking a lot of criticism, leaving some people wondering if EG is in fact the best American team. But after a strong showing against one of the best teams in the world in the first round of KODE5 Russia, it's time to assess EG's progress as an international competitor.

Here is what we learned.

EG is a complete team

Although EG has two stars on their roster in fRoD and n0thing, their other 3 players are both equally important and equally capable of winning rounds for EG. At both ESWC and KODE5, Warden was been a consistent source of entry frags on both the offensive and defensive sides.

Storm, who has been their in-game leader, has also been a fairly consistent fragger, an important ability for a strat caller to possess. And Lurppis was easily the most clutch player for EG against SK today, winning several 2v1s and 3v1s which accounted for any number of rounds going for EG that otherwise would have went to SK.

EG is not a defensive team

Although their play on dust2 today was extremely good on both CT and T sides, the defense on the other 2 maps was lacking, to say the least. Today on Nuke, which is arguably the second-most CT-sided map in tournament play, EG won 6 rounds as terrorists, but only 2 on CT.

And on inferno, a number of their defensive victories came from retakes after losing a site. When the CT team loses a site, they essentially become the offensive team while the terrorist team becomes the defense.

While EG was excellent at retaking sites in the offensive-CT role, it wasn't enough to overcome their weaknesses on CT. EG was mainly a one-sided team today, and if they can manage to improve their defensive teamwork and tactics, they will become a very good team.

The CGS did not diminish Zet's skill

Coming into today's tournament, Zet was SK's leading damage dealer and tied with 2 others for highest FPR. He showed EG today that he has clearly transitioned back to 1.6 and is still one of the best players in the world.

Zet's defensive play at the B sites on dust 2 and inferno caused problems for EG all day, and he was also highly effective on the offensive side as well. Zet is arguably SK's most important player.

fRoD is key

While it is true that EG does not revolve entirely around 1 player, fRoD is without question one of EG's most important players. His formidable skills with the awp can change the opposing team's entire gameplan, and when fRoD is playing well, his teammates feed off of that.

He is one of EG's most vocal and most competitive players, but when fRoD struggles, the whole team seems to struggle with him. In today's match versus SK on Nuke, fRoD was unable to hold outside effectively on CT, and EG lost the map.

On Inferno, fRoD once again struggled on CT, and despite a heroic effort by Storm, EG once again lost the map. EG isn't the same team when fRoD struggles.

Summing it up

With only a week to analyze and fix mistakes from their ESWC performance, EG clearly used their time wisely. Their play today was at the level of other top international teams, and the amount of adjustments they were able to make in such a short amount of time is impressive. Look for EG to continue to evolve with their new lineup - they should be an exciting team to watch in the upcoming LAN and online league seasons.