FURIA’s AWPer told PGL’s broadcast that a minor operation before the event stopped him overthinking his eyes, and that Saturday’s grand final means facing two friends.
Danil “molodoy” Golubenko believes a minor eye operation before PGL Masters Bucharest is part of the reason his form has returned. The 21-year-old spoke to James Banks on PGL’s broadcast after FURIA beat MOUZ 2-1 in Friday’s semi-final, a series in which he went +15 on Dust2.
Banks noted that the two had spoken at several events since molodoy’s problems with his eyes began, and asked where he is now. molodoy said:
I think it’s helped for me. And I think it’s more helps in mind. And you’re not focusing about this. And you’re not overthinking about your eyes.
He added that FURIA are “just improving this tournament” and “confident now”, after a 2026 in which the team knew they had problems.
The call that turned Dust2
molodoy also explained the moment Banks picked out from the team’s comms. FURIA trailed 4-2 on their Dust2 pick when YEKINDAR told the team to communicate better, and they won 11 of the next 13 rounds. molodoy said the rest of the team had left YEKINDAR alone when he went out long: “We don’t say anything for him to out. We don’t say we have flash, and we’re just bad, bro.”
After a short talk, he said, “we understand, we need to talk more, and we can win this”.
On Mirage, where FURIA led 8-4 and then collapsed on the T side, molodoy described an early mistake on Ramp and a pistol round that left FalleN “a little bit tilt”. “For him, it’s hard to call,” he said. FURIA still won the series on Cache, where molodoy walked out Main alone with the AWP at 6-3, a gamble he said he took because “if I do now, we don’t have chance to win this round”.
Friends on the other side
The grand final against Nemiga is a Bo5 starting at , and it puts molodoy up against two fellow Kazakhs, SYPH0 and khaN.
“I play against my friends,” he said. “It’s hard to play, I think, already against them because they have confidence to play against me.”
He ended with a message for them: “I want to say good luck for them.” When Banks suggested he would be less friendly on the server, molodoy answered: “We will see.”
A title would give FURIA two trophies in a row after the Thunderpick World Championship earlier this month.
