FURIA head coach Sidnei “sidde” Macedo points to the pressure of the stage and a highly prepared opponent as key factors in their grand final defeat at IEM Cologne. After a commanding semi-final victory over Aurora, the Brazilian squad failed to maintain their form against Team Falcons.
A drop in energy against a prepared opponent
The contrast between FURIA’s semi-final performance and their grand final appearance was clear. Sidde openly acknowledged the skill level Team Falcons brought to the server, suggesting the opposition played some of the best Counter-Strike they have ever produced as a unit.
As you see, we played a very good opponent,” sidde stated. “They were just more ready for this kind of game. They had amazing individuals. They played, I don’t know, maybe the best CS they’ve ever played in this lineup and it was very hard to match.
When questioned about the team’s intensity, the coach confirmed a noticeable dip. He highlighted the sheer scale of the event as a contributing factor to their underperformance.
We lacked a bit of our normal energy level. We were not playing the same CS that we normally play,” sidde explained. “And yeah, the size of the game, the size of this grand final, how big it is to play a major final might have affected us. But yeah, we didn’t play to our full potential.
Execution issues on the server
To counter a coordinated Team Falcons, FURIA required strict execution. Instead, sidde observed a disconnect between the tactical ideas formulated outside the game and the actual gameplay presented in the server. The fluidity seen against Aurora the day prior was entirely absent.
I think playing less afraid and being more connected as a team and individually connect more with the team ideas that we had,” sidde noted regarding what needed to change. “I don’t feel like we had bad ideas but we could have connected better into making the plans happen, different than yesterday when everything was so smooth. Today things weren’t like that and also we had a very good opponent.
Taking lessons from defeat
Reaching the grand final in Cologne is a significant achievement for this FURIA roster. Sidde expects his players to absorb the pressure from this experience and use it to improve their approach in high-stakes matches moving forward.
You just need to be more ready for the next experiences. And this will for sure teach us a lot of things both inside and outside of the game,” sidde said. “Whenever you play a game of this level, it’s impossible not to learn. And it’s been like this with this lineup since we started. We learn from all the defeats that we have. And we normally come back better.
The Brazilian team will now review their performance in Germany and prepare for their next phase of competition.
We know how to ask ourselves the right questions and get the right answers I would say,” sidde concluded. “So right now the moment is for us to look back at what happened here and yeah, just come back better for the next tournaments.
