drop: "I've grown a lot as a player and as a person playing with these guys"

The hopes and dreams of many Brazilian fans were shattered yesterday afternoon as hometown heroes FURIA fell at the hands of Heroic in a close semifinal matchup. Despite the heartwrenching loss, the young gun of FURIA, André "drop" Abreu, sat down with Dust2.us' Ryan Friend to talk about the team's placing this event, what it's been like working with André Akkari, and FURIA's 2022 as a whole.

Let's start with the easiest question: This was an insane event for you, right?

I mean, the Legend Stage and the Champions it was great for me individually and statistically for the team. I was feeling the game - I was feeling comfortable and confident, and I really want to keep those moments in my mind and keep it for the next tournaments.

Do you feel that you have somehow hit the next level in your game?

Kinda yes, but I am not sure about this yet. I need some more events, some more practice, and some more events with the team. I am pretty close after reaching the Tier 1 level and I'm pretty pleased with that.

In this last game, how was Akkari helping you and the team in the comeback on Ancient?

Yeah, for sure. When we were 15-5 he just looked at us and says "Guys, just play every round as if it was the last round of your lives. Just play like this, round by round and nothing matters. There is no after and nothing before. There is just now. Just do it and you guys can do history." And we came back, but unfortunately, we did not close the map.

It's an incredible accomplishment to get to the semi-finals of a Major. How good do you feel after this whole year that you have had?

It's been insane, I've grown a lot as a player and as a person playing with these guys that I'm a huge fan of them, not just as a teammate. I'm a huge fan of all four of them and guerri and tacticus. It's been amazing, it's been an insane year. It's my first whole year playing at the tier 1 events. We have ups and downs and I think we are finishing it not with a championship, but we are happy with what we have achieved in this year.

With a quarterfinal in Antwerp and a semifinal in Rio, would you say that this was a solid year?

I won't say that it was a solid year because before Cologne we lost two Tier 2 tournaments, so it wasn't a solid year, but it shows that we are growing as a team. We are getting more used to playing with each other and we are developing our playstyle and communication. So I will say that it's been a great year, but not a solid year.

drop and the rest of FURIA will now be looking forward to some rest after an arduous run in IEM Rio, with the team not slated to play any more events until 2023.