MOUZ player Jimi Jimpphat Salo gave an interview to Players reporter Sofiia Pikhalo.
Congratulations on your win. How do you feel right now? It was a long game.
I feel really happy. It feels good to be in the finals again after the last time. The game itself was a bit of a struggle, especially on the first map.
We should have closed it, but I'm really happy how we bounced back in the last two maps. We had really good results and it was like in the finals again, so I’m looking forward to winning it again.
What do you think happened on the first map?
It's hard to tell now. We didn't really have time to figure it out, but I think we actually played really well. The biggest problem was probably that we gave a lot of entries whenever we were in CT and T. It was hard to build the game whenever we were 4v5 or 3v5, so I think that was the biggest cause.
You didn't have the best stats during this Bo3. What do you think happened to your performance?
I've been a bit sick, so it's something that has been a little bit of a problem for me in the last two games. I didn't play my best, but I still don't really care. I don't worry about it, because I know that I will bounce back and I also know that my teammates got my back, like today. xertioN was playing really well and also torzsi and siuhy.
Even if I'm playing badly, there`s always somebody who is there for me and for the team and who is playing well. It's nice to be in the team and I am happy that everybody is performing.
What do you expect from a match with Vitality?
I think it will be a really good game. It will be a tough game. We played against Vitality in Cologne, I think. It was a beautiful time.
We will have to do some good preparation and prepare mentally for the game. Also, it's Bo5, so it will be a long game. It’s always hard to play them in a way that they are always playing really well and pushing you in the end.
They will do everything to win and it's a really hard game to play mentally. They play really good mind games. It will be a tough game in that case as well. We just need to play our style and it will be good.
I saw that your goal was to beat G2. Are you satisfied with the previous games in ESL Pro League S19?
Yes, definitely. I think that in the last two games, even though some of the maps were a bit tight, I'm still happy that we won both games. Some people might say that this tournament is not really that important because there is not much crowd. But I think it's one of the best tournaments in the whole year.
One of the biggest. It means a lot for us to win the LAN. It's something we have been struggling with. We got to the finals in IEM Chengdu. We saw that we can still do it.
Before Chengdu we were struggling a lot in the LANs. Especially with the crowd. So we are happy that we can still perform really well even if there is a smaller crowd.
Do you feel the difference between a small crowd like here in Malta and a big crowd like it was on Major?
Yes, definitely. I think it's obvious for the bigger crowd. It gives you more pressure because you see a lot more people. It just feels like everybody is watching you. So you feel pressure.
For example, in this tournament I would say that it's the same thing. Because there are not so many people. I don't know the numbers but it doesn't feel much.
You are not that nervous when you are playing. It gets really loud sometimes. So in that regard I think it feels kind of the same. But yeah, it's still different I would say.
Do you hear some tips from the crowd when people are so really close?
If you are playing 1v1 and everybody is full silent, yes. It happens. I remember when we played against ENCE in the last EPL. It was the winning moment against ENCE and 1v1 against SunPayus.
I remember that the crowd got so loud. So they basically told me where the last enemy was. I was moving in that direction.
It was a bit weird. But yeah, it definitely happens sometimes.
Right now you are Top 3 on HLTV ranking. What's your plan for this year?
Our plans... We really haven't thought about the ranking itself. We have been thinking about winning tournaments. And we really want to win some trophies this year.
Because we all know that we are capable of it. We planned and we talked about winning the... We really wanted to win the Copenhagen Major because it was a really important tournament.
I'm a bit sad that we didn't make it. But we are looking forward to the Shanghai Major. I think it will be the biggest tournament of the year.
We really want to win the Major. Because it means a lot for everyone. And it's one of the most meaningful tournaments in the whole CS.
