yuurih on guerri's ban: "This is like injustice you know, it looks like Valve doesn't care"

After qualifying 3-0 FURIA have a possible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a Major Quarter-Final in front of their home crowd in Rio. Dust2.us' Ryan Friend spoke to star rifler Yuri "yuurih" Santos about the team's flawless Legends Stage run, their expectations against one of the last remaining tournament favorites NAVI and FURIA's coaching situation.

You weren't able to get your 3-0 in the RMR but you have been able here to rally back and now you got your 3-0. How does it feel to be here in Brazil at this moment?

For me it's amazing, just playing the game we are playing game by game. When you see we are three in a row, at 3-0 everyone is playing good CS everyone is playing together. When you are in the playoffs to see our families cheering for us, this is amazing, you know we play for this so I'm feeling great.

You are about to have your toughest match of the Major so far, against NAVI are you feeling nervous or how are you feeling about that?

Not really. I guess we have played against them already and we know how they will play, we have won against them as well. I think we need to do our game, play with confidence and be happy, I think we can win against them. They are very good but if we play our game, round by round and thinking always about the next round I think we can, I know they are a tough team but I think we can win against them.

You are going to have the crowd with you, do you think that will give you the extra push you need to go against a team like that?

Yeah for sure, the people say we have the pressure but I don't think that. I think this is a plus for us, it is going to help us and when we see our family in the crowd cheering for us it is good for me, good for the team. The crowd is helping us, I don't know how but they are helping. They are doing their job, yeah it's amazing.

There are some questions that are going to come up regarding how the maps and the veto will go. NAVI have looked shaky in some maps, but confident in others I think the biggest one was Ancient where they couldn't get anything going on T-side. Is there a map or anything that you are looking forward to getting when you go up against them?

We have some maps in the mind, but guerri is doing his job he is looking at the maps but we are studying the maps already, we are prepared. We are very confident in the maps, we know the maps already. We need to do our game and play our style on the maps, let's see how we be.

There's been a lot of talk about akkari being a coach here, a lot scrutinized the move because they believed taking out a traditional coach wasn't the right move. But you are here and you have gotten through to this stage a lot easier than in Antwerp. Do you think this vindicates the move and shows it was the right move?

Yeah, akkari is a professional poker player. So he has a lot of experience in big tournaments so he is helping us on the emotional side and with the mind but tactically he doesn't have a lot to help us. Guerri is missing for us, because he can help us tactically and with the emotional side. But akkari has helped a lot, he is amazing as well.

You guys as a team made some tweets recently about the decision for guerri not to be allowed to coach, calling for him to be allowed back in. ESIC have even gone back and said he should be allowed to Coach, that the de-merit system was bad. How does that feel for you and the team that Valve have continued to ignore this?

Its bad, for me, it is bad that Valve doesn't reply. They don't reply to akkari or FURIA about the situation, this is bad. I don't like this because Valve need to see the situations, it's like Guerri didn't do anything wrong and he proved the communication in video. This is like injustice you know, it looks like Valve doesn't care. We can't do anything about it, lets see how it will be next year or in the next 3 months I guess and let's see if they help us.

The next Major he can be in is 2024, but he's behind you in a lot of other competitions. Do you notice a big difference between when he is behind you and when he isn't?

Yeah sure. He helps us a lot, when he is in the game with us he sees a lot of stuff in the game that we can't see so this helps us a lot. He is always saying something to help us with our mind so it is a big difference for us, but we can't do anything about it, we need to do our game. Me, KSCERATO, arT, saffee, and drop need to stay together to be like in sync and play our game and the stuff we know.

Talking about saffee for a little bit, he has really grown a lot in this team. He has got better and better, how valuable is it to have an AWPer like that considering the AWP is so pivotal in the way you play?

We have always had problem with the AWP, the guy needs to have an impact because of the AWP. I'm very happy for him, in the beginning, he had a lot of pressure to playing in this role. Now he is playing with happiness and playing very good CS and he is happy. I said to him like three days ago, for him to play like it is our home, you need to play your game and see your family cheering for you. So just do your game and play for the team because he has a lot of impact when he does, so I'm happy for him.