zakk: "I want to kick steel's ass"

Dust2.us' Dafydd Gywnn caught 9z coach Rafael "zakk" Fernandes after a crucial match, which saw the team reach a 2-2 record after edging out 00 NATION. zakk gave his thoughts on working with a team of youngsters, his goals and expectations for the squad heading into the Americas RMR, and on the state of South and North American CS.

This game has got to be a big confidence booster for you boys, you are now going into the 2-2 matchups and have still got a chance to make the major. How are you feeling about winning?

I feel like on the first day we didn't show the game that we have showed in practice, a lot of tier one teams gave us practice and I have to thank them because every time we go to Europe they practice against us. The practices were pretty good, so I was disappointed on the first day and now we are starting to get on the same level as the pracs. I think the lack of tournaments and official games hurt us a lot, because we are playing against teams that in the last three months have like 50 maps and we have like twelve. So I think that was a big reason why our performance was downgraded a lot in the first day but I'm happy with how we are playing now.

So you are saying that this isn't even the best 9z that we might see?

No, I think we are far away from the best 9z you are going to see because it's been four months, we are not even close to being ready. The last 9z we had with bit IGLing and try as the AWPer, it took like 2 years for us to start to get a little bit better and right now we've been together for 4 months. I know we have three players from the old lineup but it's not the same.

What's it going to take for you guys to get to that level that you want to be at?

I think just time and experience, especially experience in tournaments. I hope we can get to more tournaments out of South America, that's the experience we need.

This is a huge win because you avoid going home, this win was also against try, your former player, what does that add to the win?

try is our little brother. When he has had free time here he's staying in our practice room so we can talk and chat about random things and about life. So it's not that we have something against him but in the server, we want to crush him. He preferred to go to another team at the end of the day and we want to show that we are better in the server. I think it was a special win for us.

Speaking of previous teammates, you have coached some of the other players who are here, most notably steel and boltz. Are you looking forward to the opportunity to go against Case if it happens?

There's a website where you can simulate who we could play, and I think if we win tomorrow there's a chance I get to play against steel to see who's going to go the Major. It's going to be awesome. I want to kick steel's ass.

Amazing. In regards to that Immortals team, you guys are clearly underdogs here and are having a really good underdog story. Does it remind you of what it felt like back in 2017?

It reminds me a lot, because everything that happened in 2017 was in Romania as well, and it was PGL. That was actually something that I said to my team in the first game, is that when we played with Immortals we were down 1-2, and we qualified and reached the finals, so anything can happen, don't be sad because we lost two games, anything can happen. This is our Major qualifier, it's different for everyone that is here, even the experienced players feel a lot of pressure. I think everyone can make it, just don't stop believing.

Do you think you can go all the way that the Immortals roster went, or even further?

Yeah, I think so.

Speaking about how you guys aren't that experienced in games and stuff, you might not know but the average age of teams here is 24 years old. You guys are 22, one of the youngest teams here. How vital has LAN experience been for these guys?

This is the first LAN they've played together, and for some of them, I think for four of them, it's their first international LAN. So, it means everything in the world. I'm very surprised how they are playing because the pressure you feel on LAN is way different than an online tournament, so I'm very pleased with how they are playing and I think these guys on my team could put South American countries like Argentina and Chile on the map. They are the hope for those countries, they are the first ones that can get, from my point of view, on a different level of Counter-Strike that those countries never got, so it's incredible.

With them being from all these different South American countries, how is the communication on the team? Is it easy to mesh because you're all speaking the same language?

It's very easy because they speak Spanish and I speak Spanish with Portuguese, so we understand each other perfectly.

Obviously, you're very experienced on LANs, way more experienced than the younger guys. Coming into this tournament, how did you try and prepare them for what it was gonna be like?

I tried to make their mind understand that we don't need to win anything like we don't have to win. We want to win of course, but we don't have to, it's not our obligation. We stayed 15 days here, practicing and giving our best, waking up early and going to bed super late, and talking about Counter-Strike 24 hours a day. We did everything we could, so from now on we can just play and see how it goes, and that's it. What happens, it happens. They are super young like you said, and they're gonna have way more shots. If they don't qualify on this one, maybe the next one because they're going to be more experienced, so don't feel like it's the last tournament they're gonna play, because there's a lot to do yet.

Would you say that lack of expectations that other people have for them as well has helped them play better?

Yeah, I think so.

Obviously, you just mentioned the next Major. That's going to be in Rio, in Brazil, in South America. Obviously, you take it step by step, but is that something that you personally are looking forward to?

Yeah, I played on ESL Sao Paulo in 2016, and it was crazy. I want to feel that experience again, the Brazilian fans are very passionate, so I want to be on that stage.

Would you say passion is what is making South American Counter-Strike so good at the moment?

Well, I think we had better moments. We have FURIA right now that is playing very very good Counter-Strike, and I need to praise them every interview, every time I speak with media because they are on a different level. But, I think we've had better times on South American CS.

Comparing South American to North American CS, where would you say the two are at the moment?

I think on South America, we're way ahead than where we started. We're better, we're getting more spots to play in international tournaments, which helps the atmosphere and other players to grow up and get more experience to understand the game better. I think we need to be more professional, especially in South America. We need to understand that this is a job, if you schedule a practice you have obligations with a lot of people and you can mess up. If we change that, we can get to different levels of Counter-Strike. On North America, I can't say much because I haven't been there for a long time, but I know that we need a lot more experienced people on CS. I know you guys had seangares, FNS, like teachers. People that would get four young players and give them a lot of information and experience, and I think VALORANT took those guys out and I hope we can get experienced people to be coaches or IGLs so we can have the North American youngsters grow up and get a better scene.

Obviously, you have a lot to say about how the scenes could be better, and clearly, you want to help these young guys. That leads me to ask, what do you want your legacy to be when you retire, when people look back, what do you want people to think or say?

In my personal career, I think we wrote stories because I coached a very difficult team to be coached. Immortals was uncoachable, and I think I did a great job. We reached many finals, semi-finals, we peaked on top 4 of the world, and reached the Major finals, so that's definitely a legacy I've left behind. Now, I want to grab youngsters, what I think I'm gonna do for the rest of my career. Only work with young people because I feel that it's a different generation than the one that I started. They listen more, they're more professional, they're open-minded, so it's been a pleasure to work with those young guys.

If there was one young guy that you would want to work with in the future, who would it be?

That's a tough question. I would love to work with m0NESY, but he's already on G2. There's a roster in Brazil called GODSENT Academy, and I think they have pretty good talent there. I think some of the players could get to the professional level, so I would love to work with them someday.

Is there anything you want to say to any South American fans?

I want to thank you for the interview, giving us space to speak a little bit. Thanks to everyone that supported us. We give everything we have on this game, our lives are this game. I want to thank everyone that supports us, that's it.

9z are now slated to play against Sao Caetano for their 2-2 decider match. A victory here would thrust the squad into the tiebreaker matches with the chance at securing the one spot still up for grabs at the PGL Antwerp Major.