The Championship Gaming Series is in full swing for the second season. We’re heading into the playoff run for the North American regular season and many of the international players just arrived in preparation for the United Kingdom and European finals. Yet, with everything that’s going on, the Latin American teams have been very quiet. Their final rosters were recently announced, but both General Managers went through a rigorous process in order to determine their teams.

Augusto "NoobZaibot" Zapata, GM of the MEXICO CITY FURIA, held a series of website events and small challenges in order to select his team. In what was informally dubbed “The Furia Countdown,” NoobZaibot showcased his protected players one per day on the FURIA site. Israel "El Divino Xmas" Navidad of the DOA-M division was the first player announced. This was followed by the announcements for Juan Pablo "ElEcTrOfLoW" Garcia (FORZA), Jose "SecretAgent" Fernandez (CSS), and Mirlet "Hitomi 1" Delgadillo (DOA-F).

In the midst of the countdown, NoobZaibot announced “The Furia Challenge.” These events decided the remainder of the CSS squad, the FIFA player and the final FORZA player. For the CSS event, NoobZaibot asked Scott "Boomser" Bednarski of the SYDNEY UNDERGROUND CSS team to aid him in selecting the rest of the FURIA CSS squad. Anyone who wanted a chance to get on board was allowed to participate as Boomser carefully watched the action unfold and gave NoobZaibot his expert opinion. The results were clear as the FURIA CSS squad now consists of Jorge "Caby" Morales, Damian "deiMON" Serna, Diego "Pis7ol" Ruiz and Ludovico "v1kooo" Azanza Mata in addition to SecretAgent.

Throughout the countdown there was also a FORZA challenge. Francisco "mEtAlx" Alegria, Leopoldo "UFO-79ERN" Vargas and a racer by the name of Jose all competed alongside ElEcTrOfLoW to determine the second FURIA FORZA racer. There were many races during the FORZA challenge with mEtAlx and UFO-79ERN coming out on top of the pack. The two raced in a best of three match set with mEtAlx taking top honors and becoming the new FURIA FORZA member. Unfortunately, ElEcTrOfLoW would run into Visa issues just a few weeks later. This allowed Luis "LEGITRACER" Ibarra, a former PGR player for the RIO SINISTRO to step in and take his place.

Standing up to the challenge under pressure, Zerecero returns to Furia.

The final Furia Challenge was for the FIFA spot. Jaime "SHeVa_Mx" Solis was the taxi player for the SINISTRO last year and stepped up to challenge Ruben "Zerecero" Morales for a spot on the FURIA. Since Zerecero was the current FIFA player, NoobZaibot set up a challenge between the two. The players would take the field in two separate best of nine battles. Matches had to be won in regulation to avoid wins by penalty kicks, and each match set went down to the ninth game. In the end, it was Zerecero who maintained his spot on the FURIA.

Paulo "pvell" Velloso, GM of the SINISTRO, held a Combine to determine his new players. The only players he protected were Bruno "bruno" Ono, Raphael "cogu" Camargo and Lincoln "fnx" Lau of his CSS squad. Following the Combine, most of the former SINISTRO team was retained. Joining the three existing CSS players were Carlos Henrique "KIKOOOO" Segal and Renato "nak" Nakano. Luis "LAVU" Uribe retained his spot as a FORZA racer, joined by UFO-79ERN who failed to make the FURIA squad. Francisco "Patan" Sotullo was a seemingly controversial selection for FIFA as speculation indicates that the former FIFA player, David Ernesto "Davisso" Pineda Garcia was never given a chance to defend his spot on the team.

Jorge "SnakeJorge" Zavala remained the DOAM player for SINISTRO and while his wife, Alma "YoSuccubus" Gallegos also retained her position as the DOAF player, there was a chance that pvell was going to recruit a talented player from the United States. Cynthia “RaspberryTea” Escamilla has dual citizenship and originally thought she was eligible to play for either of the Latin American teams. She conversed with pvell on numerous occasions and at one point she only needed to beat YoSuccubus in an online match to take her place on the SINISTRO. Unfortunately, it was around this time that pvell was informed by CGS officials that RaspberryTea was not eligible to play for a Latin American team until the 2009 season. According to CGS officials, once a player has competed at a Combine, they are not allowed to compete in any other regions during the same season. This allowed YoSuccubus to keep her position on the team.

With RaspberryTea not posing a threat, YoSuccubus had a near lock on DoA-F.

The two Latin American teams will face off against one another in Los Angeles on July 10. If we take a quick look at the matchup, the FURIA seem to have a slight advantage. The DOA matchup significantly favors the FURIA as both players won their respective tournaments at the 2007 Live Qualifier and during the 2007 Latin American Final. Based on what we’ve seen from all four DOA players, it’s safe to assume that FURIA still have the clear advantage.

Due to Visa issues, the SINISTRO have a definite edge when it comes to FORZA. ElEcTrOfLoW was not able to remain on the team, and their top taxi, UFO-79ERN was snatched up by the SINISTRO. This left the FURIA with their current roster, while the SINISTRO maintain their star racer from the 2007 season alongside UFO-79ERN.

FIFA is a tough call as Zerecero has been practicing tremendously in preparation for the CGS and several other FIFA events across the world. It would seem as though FURIA have the advantage, but Patan of the SINISTRO is relatively unknown to most CGS fans. It’s tough to predict whether or not he’ll be ready for the battle against Zerecero.

The one division where SINISTRO have a clear advantage is Counter-Strike: Source. The SINISTRO have a world-class squad that’s battle hardened and ready for combat. The FURIA squad was recently formed and comes in with much less experience as a team and in front of the lights and cameras of the CGS. Some CSS insiders are predicting a blowout win for SINISTRO, tossing around 14-4 and 13-5 scores. However, if the FURIA DOA squad can give the team +10, it could erase any advantage the SINISTRO CSS team has and bring the match down to FIFA and FORZA.

Whatever the outcome, only one team will move on to the 2008 CGS World Final. NoobZaibot and pvell are feverishly working their teams to get them prepared for the single most important match of the year. Both GMs have a lot of work ahead of them with several new and untested players, but the way things are shaping up it should be an entertaining match.