With Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's retirement around the corner, FURIA is under heavy time pressure to make the most of their last few months with a lineup that won four trophies in 2025.
And at EWC, despite a top-four finish, Sid "sidde" Macedo was unhappy with another performance that extended their trophy drought.
"This is not the real FURIA," he said to HLTV, pointing to their failure to convert a 5v3 at 10-7 against FUT as a huge moment. "Rationally, my assessment is positive; emotionally, it's really bad."
The team are also looking ahead to their future. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis is now in-game leading on Ancient, Anubis, and Cache, and sidde confirmed that the Latvian taking over full-time is one option they are considering at the end of the year.
But no final decision has been taken, and rumors continue to swirl around the future of Danil "molodoy" Golubenko too.
sidde's response is a simple one: "If at any point we have players who are thinking about leaving, what actually helps us is that they believe they can achieve whatever goals they might be envisioning elsewhere."
Note: This interview was conducted in Portuguese.
A 2-1 defeat in the bronze match against Legacy. Yesterday, YEKINDAR said he didn't see a purpose in these third-place deciders. Do you think your team lacked focus?
I wouldn't say we lacked focus. We knew how important it was to win this match. It carried weight in terms of VRS, in terms of the club ranking in EWC. It was a very important match for FURIA. So we know that, even though nobody wants to play the match, it matters. So we were focused, but there are factors that come into play when the match starts. I don't think a lack of focus was one of them, given the importance of the game.
I think the team has looked a little out of sync since yesterday's game, and honestly, many of the mistakes we made today were the same ones we made yesterday. I wouldn't say the third-place decider was a factor.
Looking back at yesterday's match with a clear head, what conclusions did you draw? For example, on Ancient there were two 4v2 rounds that you lost. It could have easily ended 2-0, right? What do you think went wrong?
The conclusion is that we ended up rushing moments that called for calm, perhaps because of the pressure of the game and because of how tense the game was at the point. In moments when we should have taken a calmer approach, we ended up choosing to rush things, which disrupted the flow of the rounds. In all those situations where we had the advantage, we played too fast.
The team really lacked that connection in terms of understanding what was happening in the game, while in the past we handled those situations with much more composure. There's a certain disconnect, a lack of chemistry within the team right now.
How do you analyze your EWC run? You made it to the semifinals — do you see that as positive, or is there a bitter aftertaste from losing to an underdog?
We're left with a bitter aftertaste because when you have an opportunity like this to reach the final — not just because of the opponent, but because of how the game was going, we had the game in the bag. I'd tell you the same thing if it were against Vitality or Falcons. When you have a game in your hand, a 5v3 lead at 10-7 on the third map, you have to close it out.
So, yes, there's a bitter aftertaste about how it went, but if we take a step back and look at the start of the season, how we did in BLAST Bounty and how the team performed in the moments when we played at a high level here — my assessment is positive. Rationally, my assessment is positive; emotionally, it's really bad. There's a feeling of enormous helplessness, also because we lost the third-place match today, too.
But looking at it rationally and considering how the season has gone, I don't think it's a disastrous result. I am a bit worried about how we're playing and how we lost those matches, but when it comes to the results, you can't say it was a terrible tournament.
One of the main talking points is that YEKINDAR is now the IGL on certain maps. In a way, that's taking what happened last year to the next level, because he was already calling a bit, especially on the CT side, right?
Yes. This change has a lot to do with maps where FalleN was having some difficulties. Because of the positions he plays, YEKINDAR ends up being the captain on the CT side. It makes sense that he is in charge of the CT side. And he's always been very involved — and still is — on the T side on all the maps, whether it's in terms of strategy, coordination, or helping the team. YEKINDAR is always involved in those matters. And on these maps, where he has less difficulty than FalleN, it made sense for him to take on the captaincy.
There is no other reason than the fact that he is the best captain for our team on those maps. Ever since he joined the team, YEKINDAR has had a leadership role and been the secondary caller. Naturally, he has put himself in that position. But right now, our focus is on having him be the IGL only on those specific maps, because he has great strategic vision.
And it's on Ancient, Anubis and Cache, right?
At the moment, yes.
How's the search for a new IGL going? Do you consider getting a new captain and having YEKINDAR play his roles, if that is possible? Or also hand over the IGL role to YEKINDAR and get someone to fill that void?
Yeah, right now we're considering two possibilities. The first is to bring in a captain to replace FalleN, while YEKINDAR continues in the role he has today. And the second option is to bring in a player who isn't the captain, and have YEKINDAR take on that role within the team.
We don't have a preference for which one to go with. We don't know how it's going to play out, because we depend a lot on negotiations and the market. We might sign a big player who isn't the captain, and then he might make that sacrifice in this situation. We might sign a great captain to replace FalleN, in which case it would be easy to make a one-for-one swap. But those are the two possibilities we are exploring.
There's a lot of uncertainty about FURIA's future. FalleN is retiring. And it's unclear whether molodoy and YEKINDAR will remain. Just how important is it to win trophies and make deep runs to show them that FURIA remains a winning project, one where they'll be able to achieve their goals?
That's exactly the way to go about it, right? If at any point we have players who are thinking about leaving, what actually helps us is that they believe they can achieve whatever goals they might be envisioning elsewhere. Obviously, we don't want any player to leave. These are rumors coming from outside, and honestly, it's not really our place right now to deal with these rumors internally; we need to do our job, and we already have one change to make—and that's the only realistic one we have right now, which is replacing FalleN.
As I told you, we're looking at two different types of players — either he'll be captain or he won't. That's our reality; that's what we're working with right now. And, honestly, winning titles is a way of showing these players that there's no reason for them to even think about any other project.
You said just now that you're worried about the team's current issues. Considering that and the fact you won't have much time before the next event, what sort of targets do you have for BLAST Porto?
We're really looking forward to it; we really want to play in Portugal. We know how important it is for the team and for Brazilians to play in Porto. It's a city we really want to visit. For me personally, it would be really important because I've never been to Portugal and I've really wanted to go.
It's not that important that we won't have much time. I don't think the things we need to fix will take very long. What they really take is conversation, understanding and consensus among everyone on what's being said. I don't think the lack of time will hurt us.
We want to reach the playoffs at least. Put on a good show in the playoffs. As a coach, I want the team to play better than it did here. And if that takes us to the playoffs, I'll be very happy. Honestly, as a coach, I want the team to fix these mistakes, because this is not the real FURIA.
Danil 'molodoy' GolubenkoPast 3 months
FUT
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç
Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko
Aulon 'Krabeni' Fazlija
Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
András 'coolio' Fercsák
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoPast 3 months
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisPast 3 months
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo