That's me done for the tournament! See you next time!

PGS - CS 1.6 eSports World Cup 2007 winners.

NoA pose with their winnings.

3rd and 1st place side by side.

Neo: 'you only got 12k, huh?' ;)

The winners come towards the front of the stage with their winnings.

Shots for the press...

PGS raise their prize high.

PGS are handed their prizemoney of $40k and the prestigious World Cup.

The tired and disappointed members of NoA pick up their $24k for their efforts in becoming runners-up.

Fnatic scoop their prize of $12k.

The hosts thank the spectators, the players and the organisation. They also promise that, despite some speculation due to a reduced prize-fund this year, ESWC will be back next year.

Fnatic returned to take their 3rd place.

The teams await their awards, while the Poles have found more flags!

Gold: PGS Gaming - Poland
Silver: Team NoA - Denmark
Bronze: Fnatic - Sweden

They are the world champions.

The distraught members of NoA talk to the hosts.

Else they're being arrested.

The Polish team walk around with flags.

The teams head to the centre stage and shake hands.

PGS realising their feat.

The team leap up and huddle together. Polish fans going wild off-shot.

PGS take down the remaining NoA member and after 3 hours of on-stage action, can finally take their place as champions.

PGS take down 3 in quick succession, leaving hpx alone to try and fight against 4 CTs.

PGS need just one round now. NoA are closing.

PGS need just two rounds here to become world champions.

The two teams, having now played almost 3 hours of Counter-Strike on-stage, continue into the final set. One of the Polish team encourages the fans after taking a round.

Sunde destroys two PGS players with headshots, leaving Luq as a lone ranger. NoA would pull back to 9-6, but PGS gained the upper hand.

Polska!

As the game went on, they got louder and louder. They were also being encouraged by the players on-stage, who lapped up the support.

PGS have pulled out a 8-2 lead as Terrorists, although this map is considered to favour that side.

3v3 action early in the map.

After a well-needed break for both spectators and players, the 3rd map, de_inferno, could begin.

This guy got booed a lot.

Incredible stuff as NoA take the second period of overtime and also the second map. This meant there would be a final map to decide the World Champion of 2007.

To put the length of this game into some perspective, we'd been sitting watching for around 2 hours at this point.

NoA took the first set with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

NoA showed great character to hold on and take the game to another overtime. The crowd were getting exhausted by now, although still cheered as they had from the beginning.

But NoA miraculously pull back another 2 rounds to make it 3-3 in overtime. Cue 2nd overtime!

Things look bad for NoA as PGS take the first round of the second set as Terrorists.

But NoA manage to stay calm and gain a vital round, making it 2-1 at the end of set 1.

PGS romp ahead as CT and take round 2 of overtime.

PGS take the first round.

Overtime begins, and as you can see, PGS waste no time in destroying four-fifths of the NoA team.

To explain some more about the overtime system, as mentioned it's MR3, and the players are given $16k starting money. If there is no winner at the end of 6 rounds, it goes to another overtime.

There's the guys I spoke about, who were insanely vocal the entire match for such a small amount. It was funny because the rest of the crowd all sided with NoA (most likely due to being the underdog), and whenever the Polska began to sing, boos and jeers resonated throughout the hall.

Nothing like a bit of fun competition!

NoA huddle and prepare for the next stage - MaxRounds 3 on the same map, to decide the victor.

Amazing stuff here, with PGS taking the 30th and final round of the map to make it all-square at 15 a piece. The crowd were going absolutely nuts at this point, especially the Polish guys.

But PGS pegged one back! Could NoA take the final round?

Unbelievable! After PGS had been able to pick up just 4 rounds the entire set, NoA were now on the brink of stealing the second map from them.

With all 5 members back in action, the game restarted. The next rounds were nailbiting with some insane showings of skill and accuracy from both teams.

One of the NoA team's PCs restarted itself, as you can see on the end (a great advert for Packard Bell, eh?) We put this down to the room being so hot.

Incidentally, the PC held out with no problems for the rest of the match.

The next round begins, and PGS are beginning to feel the pressure.

The lights here are in aid of NoA turning the map around and taking the lead.

NoA stage a comeback, and the score is now 10-9.

The second set begins, after the teams swap sides. PGS just need 7 rounds to be crowned champions.

And they do take the round. It's looking grim for NoA right now, but can they haul themselves back into the game?

A duel outside, with NoA having lost a man already to the M4 of Neo. PGS just need the round to take the set.

An erm... exciting shot of darkness towards the ramp inside shows PGS 7-4 ahead, leaving NoA needing to brush up on their wall-bashing.

NoA take the pistol round and PGS proceed to send 3 around the outside on round 2. Kuben and Loord wait inside by the silver door.

The second map begins on the exciting de_nuke. Expect wall-bashing aplenty.

To begin, PGS are Terrorists and NoA are CT.

The Danish team do the same.

The Polish team chat after taking the lead in the grand final.

He's not successful, and PGS take de_train comfortably, with a 16-5 victory.

The Dane is 1v2 after taking down Neo. He needs to win this round to keep NoA's chances of winning the map alive.

In an unpredictable turn of events, PGS take a 5-0 lead on the second set, leaving them 15-5 up midway through. Could they steamroll their opponents?

The teams locked in battle.

PGS take the pistol round in set 2.

NoA head out of spawn.

Map overview of train.

Both teams readu-up to play as the opposite sides - NoA as CT and PGS as T.

PGS take the set and there is applause all round.

However, PGS put in some strong defense and stretch their lead to 9-5. Just one round will clinch them the set.

We're back in business, and here's another picture of how overwhelming the crowd was.

Warm-up in progress.

NoA in blur-o-vision.

A bit better.

NoA get their game faces on.

A split-screen of the two teams.

The game is on, and the map is de_train, with PGS as CT and NoA as T. And no, the cameraman is not part of the game, but he was certainly in an annoying position!

NoA took the first round with some nice hide-and-peek action by mJe, meaning PGS were unable to defuse.

A stage shot, with eager onlookers in-front of me.

PGS stay in contention with a couple of rounds under the belt.

2v1 action in-game, from the PoV of hpx.

Luq awps hpx with the game now at 6-5 to PGS. Considered a CT-biased map, NoA are doing well at this point.

mJe goes for a plant in the first round, but with little health.

I think this was one of the main guys, who expressed his delight at the event this year.

The Poles set-up their configs and settings. All-in-all, I'd say we were waiting a good half an hour for both teams to be completely happy and ready.

The host builds up the event.

See what I mean? All the way to the back! That place was hot...

The place was JAM PACKED. There was not a spare seat anywhere, and people actually took more in from outside.

The video again... and this time I got Bercy. Result!

This girl was a legend.

She was at the event with an energy drink company, and was handing out a load of free samples throughout the tournament.

When we were in the 1.6 hall, the place was SO PACKED and people had moved chairs in such a way that was probably broke many fire-hazards, that this girl took to throwing cans of energy drink to people on request when they called out.

Although what she was doing could have been considered dangerous, everyone was made aware of flying cans in their direction and she actually had a great arm, so every single can hit their target.

As she threw out more drinks, the entire crowd began to cheer her as she threw batch after batch. Then, the fun stopped as an ESWC organiser came over and told her to stop :(

I think she also pretty much saved the Polish fans on the left of where I was sitting, who were putting in so much effort to their support that some of them looked like they were gonna pass out. She made sure that they got some liquid energy back in their systems.

Energy drink girl, we salute you!

Preparations... and one of those damn lights!

Let the setup commence...

The champion of 2007 is pleased with his performance.

More like gesturing to his supporters.

Both competitors stand, and Spank talks about the tough-fought game.

In fact, world champion thumbs!

The German is quizzed by the host.

Again, my French sucks, but I believe this guy's a big cheese in Konami Europe.

The guys walk to the front and S-Butcher, having lost his cap somewhere, shows his excitement at the win.

The winner holds his trophy and prizemoney aloft.