FURIA defeated The MongolZ 2–0 in the IEM Chengdu 2025 quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals. After the match, kayo spoke with Mareks YEKINDAR Gaļinskis about his emotions after the victory, FURIA’s place among the world’s best teams, the support of the crowd, KSCERATO and molodoy’s chances of making the top 20, and the roster’s prospects at the upcoming Major.
Congratulations on the win! You are through to the semifinals. How are you feeling after the match?
The emotions are great. I think we showed some good Counter-Strike today.
— YEKINDAR
We were a little unhappy with our performance against MOUZ, especially on the first map. There were also other factors that prevented us from playing better.
But everyone came into this match feeling confident and ready. We have developed a small rivalry with The MongolZ—this was probably FURIA’s seventh game against them this year.
I am happy that we won. At the same time, we were expected to win: they are playing with a stand-in and a new player, and that inevitably affects a team.
molodoy played really well. So did KSCERATO. The whole team was good, really.
Tell us about the round in which FalleN dropped the AWP to molodoy and was effectively left without a full buy. How did you make that decision, and what happened afterward?
If I remember correctly, FalleN gave the AWP to molodoy and said something like: “I do not need armor—go and destroy them.”
They came up with a plan for how to use it. molodoy killed the connector player at the start. I had been saying that the opponent rushed that position very quickly every round and that we needed to catch him.
