FURIA player Yuri yuurih Santos gave an interview to Players ahead of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 CS2 playoffs. The esports player shared his thoughts on their playoff bracket and discussed their preparation for 9z.
In the playoffs, you might have one of the easiest brackets compared to other teams. What do you think about it? Will it make it easier to reach the finals?
Actually, when we look at the bracket, of course, we might think it's going to be easy. But we have experience, and we know that winning any match right now is very hard. However, yes, when you just look at the bracket, it does seem easier.
FalleN said that if you win two Majors in a row, he will continue playing Counter-Strike. Considering you have such an easy bracket it seems very possible. But then you'd still need to win the next Major. What do you think about FalleN's words? Should we maybe just give him a break?
Oh, yeah. It's a little bit hard, right? That's funny. I think if you could talk to the other teams and ask, "Give us two Majors," maybe it would work. Majors are always hard. But who knows, right? You can win this one, and maybe win the next one. And then maybe FalleN won't retire.
Regarding your preparation for 9z. Did you watch their demos before the Major? What did you know about 9z before the tournament?
Before the Major, we hadn't played against them too much. But when you watch them play against good teams, bro, you see they have really good setups. So we're going to prepare well, maybe today or tomorrow, and see what they have. We've played against them before, though not a lot. Right now, our mentality is that it will be hard, and we just need to play our game. Individually, I think it's very important that everyone performs well. If we have that, I think we can win.
Speaking of a potential semifinal, who would be a better opponent for you: Aurora or BB Team?
Both teams are good, but I think Aurora has more experience playing in arenas. So, even though BetBoom also has a strong roster, I think Aurora will win. It's hard to play against either of them. But yeah, I think Aurora is going to win, and let's see what happens.
What do you do in your free time as a team? Is anyone playing other games? I heard that YEKINDAR and KSCERATO play a lot of DayZ.
Yeah, yeah. I used to play with them as a third in DayZ, but I stopped. FalleN likes to play World of Warcraft. Daniel plays PUBG sometimes. And I just chill, you know, watching matches. I don't have a specific game to play.
But isn't it hard to play only one game your whole life?
Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard. Sometimes I play some games on my phone, mobile games. But on PC right now, I don't play anything else. I used to play Apex a few years ago.
