After Sentinels’ loss to 100 Thieves in the VCT Americas playoffs, Amine ‘johnqt’ Ouarid revealed on social media that he had been dealing with “extreme pain” during and ahead of the season-defining match.
Sentinels’ season was on the line in their July 17 playoff matchup against 100 Thieves. The winner would move on in the bracket to potentially qualify for Valorant Champions and the loser would essentially be done with the 2024 season.
Ahead of the match, there were already questions about Sentinels and its roster, as rumors were swirling that the team was considering subbing in Rahul ‘curry’ Nemani for Gustavo ‘Sacy’ Rossi to give the player time to grieve the death of his dog.
Sacy ended up playing anyway and Sentinels lost to 100 Thieves 2-0. After the match, johnqt revealed that he was also dealing with issues that could impact his performance on stage.
Sentinels won VCT Masters Madrid at the start of the season.
“Sorry for disappointing it’s been a difficult week for us, I couldn’t play up to my standards, I was in extreme pain today, had to go to urgent care yesterday and I’m waiting on the results hoping everything is fine,” johnqt said on social media.
The Valorant in-game leader also said he wasn’t trying to make excuses for the potential season-ending loss. However, two team members dealing with some form of emotional or physical pain during the match could have had an impact on the squad’s performance and cohesion.
Sentinels have not been eliminated from Valorant Champions 2024 contention just yet, but their path forward is difficult. The team has 12 championship points, enough to still qualify depending on how the rest of the VCT Americas playoffs unfold.
Sentinels started the season hot by winning VCT Americas Kickoff and the first major tournament of the year, Masters Madrid. The squad has since stagnated during the later half of the season, failing to make playoffs in VCT Americas Split 1 and missing out on Masters Shanghai.
