“I think with all the announcements, 2026 has the potential to be a real, golden year for Overwatch.”
Over the weekend, Team Liquid represented the North American (NA) region admirably at the 2025 Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) World Finals. The tournament, held during DreamHack Stockholm, featured the best Overwatch 2 esports teams from around the world duking it out for glory and the gold. In the end, Twisted Minds claimed victory. However, Team Liquid making it to the live stage was a commendable achievement. Esports.gg sat down with Team Liquid's Xavier "zeruhh" Zambrano for an interview about OWCS World Finals 2025, his practice and journey to DreamHack Stockholm 2025, and what's next for him and his team.
Team Liquid zeruhh at OWCS World Finals 2025
In his interview with esports.gg, zeruhh shared that Team Liquid's Overwatch 2 roster improved a lot during their bootcamp in the Netherlands leading up to OWCS World Finals 2025. Despite the end result, reaching the live stage was a notable achievement. Team Liquid defeated Team Peps and even faced opponents like Team Falcons and T1 from OWCS Asia. The roster ended up placing 7th overall in the tournament -- between Weibo Gaming in 6th and SpaceStation Gaming in 8th.
According to zeruhh, his team's greatest strength lies in their communication during practice and their tight-knit bond. Their openness and teamwork, both on and off the stage, played a major role in Team Liquid's improvement as well. After reviewing the recent match between Team Liquid versus Team Falcons, for example, Team Liquid went on to sweep Team Peps 2-0.
How Team Liquid supports Overwatch 2 esports players
Zeruhh also detailed what Team Liquid's Overwatch 2 training in the Netherlands and in the team house in Texas involved, noting that it featured scrims, reviews, and even streaming and ranked play outside of the obligatory schedule.
"So during our bootcamp or even at home in Texas for most of the year, our week would look like three scrim blocks a day," he said. "So that would be six hours total. And then we would have a review before the scrim the first block and then sometimes a review after. So that also adds to about another hour. It's 15 total. And then on our own, everyone's always streaming and playing ranked. So that's like another three or four hours, depending on how long people go."
Zeruhh on Overwatch World Cup 2026 and OWCS 2026
In terms of the future, zeruhh said he has his sights on Overwatch World Cup 2026. To him, playing for Team USA would fulfill a life-long dream. He then recalled watching his first-ever Overwatch World Cup back in 2017. Additionally, seeing his favorite Dallas team return to the spotlight for the OWCS 2026 circuit already means a lot to him.
"I think with all the announcements, 2026 has the potential to be a real, golden year for Overwatch," he said. "The bootcamps for the Partner Teams will help elevate the teams playing as well as the Overwatch World Cup. For me personally, that's always been a big dream of mine -- to play for Team USA and compete in the World Cup. I remember watching my first World Cup with my dad in 2017. It was a lot of fun. I think the Partner Teams that they've added are also really cool. I was a big Dallas fan growing up when I was in like the fifth grade, so seeing that brand back really means a lot to me."
In fact, zeruhh's father flew all the way out to Stockholm, Sweden just to watch his son play Overwatch 2 on the big stage. Zeruhh told esports.gg that he's really happy to have that kind of support.
As for parting words, he acknowledged Team Liquid's OWCS World Finals 2025 result and vowed to continue their hard work and commitment to improving for themselves and their fans.
"To be honest, we did work really hard. And despite our result, we're going to continue to work hard and do better for us and for the fans as well. So thank you for the support."
That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news, interviews, and updates.
