PETALING JAYA: Team SMG did well to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M5 World Championship Wild Card round today.
The Malaysian team held their nerve to notch a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons at the JioSpace Arena here tonight.
Earlier today SMG had beaten 4Merical Esports (Nepal) 2-0. They thus ended the group stage as Group A winners and have qualified for tomorrow's crossover matches.
The last two teams standing tomorrow will earn a ticket to the M5 World Championship in Manila (Dec 2-12).
SMG coach Ren Paolo Villanueva was pleased to see his team move into the business end of the competition though made it clear they have no room for complacency.
"We reset (after losing first game to Falcons) and went back to what we normally do," said Paolo, better known by his nickname 'Coach Pao'.
"The game (style) we know is the disciplined way. We just brought ourselves back in the second game.
"To be honest, the job is not finished. We must focus on tomorrow, lets not celebrate too early."
SMG's Aeliff Ariff, better known by his nickname Smooth, believes they are improving as the tournament goes on.
"On the first day we were still getting used to the venue and the crowd," said Aeliff.
"The venue was a bit cold during our first game today but we tried our best to adapt.
"Tomorrow we will continue to focus on teamwork and connection between one another. Of course our goal is to win and represent Malaysia at the M5 World Championship."
The other Group A match today witnessed Niightmare Esports (Laos) downing 4Merical Esports 2-0 to finish as runners-up in the group.
Group B matches played earlier today saw Umbrella Squad (United States) taming KeepBest Gaming (China) 2-0 while Imperio (Argentina) beat Umbrella Squad 2-0.
Meanwhile, the organisers stated that interruptions to matchplay yesterday were due to "network interference" and not internet issues as reported earlier.
"There was network interference that was attributed to us fixing the IP to a static setting. We enlisted the help of our technicians and diagnosed the issue, the ping is stable now," said Kelly Chiew, Montoon Games' head of overseas public relations.
"We apologise to the online and offline audiences. We have issued out in-game rewards as compensation to our players."