ITB's Juve: "I just want them to enjoy it"

In an unprecedented result, Into The Breach, the UK team from the open qualifiers, have made it to the Major playoffs in Paris. The team booked a spot on stage in the Accor Arena after convincing wins over FaZe, ENCE, and fnatic. The result continued their history-making run as the first UK majority side to make it to an RMR, the Legends Stage, and now the Champions Stage.

The roster consisting of Thomas "Thomas" Utting, Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel (both of whom have graced NACS previously), Cai "CYPHER" Watson, Sebastian "volt" Malos, and Karol "rallen" Rodowicz only came together four months ago. Now they are on the biggest stage of all and their coach Gustavo "Juve" Alexandre wants to make sure the team enjoys it.

Juve is one of a number of interesting stories on the plucky underdog side, with the 20-year-old Portuguese coach being the youngest at the Major. In an interview with Dust2.us' Arnie Petty, Juve spoke about his backstory, the team's qualification, and how important it is that the team appreciates the moment.

The young coach was lost for words at the start of the interview, asked about his feelings on qualifying, he, like the majority of the UK scene/fans, couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

I don't even know what to say; this must be a dream, it can't be real.

The UK scene has been starved of representation at the top level, since the days of Sam "Rattlesnk" Gawn's mousesports at the start of the game CS:GO has provided little to no hope for a top UK team. One of the major contributing factors is the lack of investment in the scene, something that NA has its fair share of experience with. Juve hopes that the result doesn't just help the team but can benefit the whole scene, which he counts himself part of after being with some variation of the ITB roster since 2021.

I think it will help the scene, especially with sponsors moving into the... our scene. It's our scene because now I'm part of it. I think it will help a lot, especially now we have more UK boys, usually it's only mezii or smooya. Now it's a UK core.

The coach then touched on the pressure the team was under, bearing in mind this was the first major appearance for four out of five players on the team, with only rallen having previously played in a Major. Juve mentioned how the key to the team's success was relaxing and loosening up to let the fragging power shine.

We felt a bit of pressure against Liquid. In the first map as well, once we played our own game and played loose we just ran over.

Talking more about the match itself, Juve discussed their small comeback on Inferno believing it to have been a false pretense as ITB were never on the map. He also explains how significant the massive lead on Overpass was for the team's confidence moving into Vertigo, one of their strongest maps.

The first map was theirs 100%. Even though it was 16-12, we had literally no chance on that map we didn't play our game, we played really bad, period. Once we entered the second map we got the momentum on Overpass with the 14 rounds. Vertigo is a really good map for us we just knew we could do it.

After their rampant display on Overpass, the British team went onto Vertigo. Starting on the T-side, CYPHER was a menace on A ramp. Unbelievably, the ITB team found themselves with another massive lead halfway through the final map. At 12-3 up Juve was keen to point out to his players that they had not won the game just yet.

First thing I said was "the game is not won boys, we didn't win the game". We have been in situations like this before, we almost lost a game like this winning 13-2 against 00 Nation they took us to overtime. So, we know any team can come back at any time, so we always need to be careful in those situations.

Talking more about Juve's journey as a coach, he walked through how in his early years in the game he had the desire to play in amateur teams but was told he did not have the mechanical skill. However, he did have a good mind for the game and was dedicated which led to his first opportunity as a coach in his domestic scene in Portugal.

I was 16 years old and I was trying to get into amateur teams, someone told me you don't shoot well and don't have skill but you think good. I started being a coach in an amateur team then I went to a semi-professional team in Portugal, top eight nationally, then FTW, and then I stepped up to Into The Breach.

History has been broken by the team, more than one record has fallen on their fairy-tale run to the top eight of the final ever CS:GO Major. Juve is not too concerned about the outcome of the rest of the tournament and instead wants to make sure his team enjoys the moment. After all, it is something no other British team will ever accomplish in this version of the game.

I just want them to enjoy it. Four months as a team getting in the Champions [Stage] of a Major...what more can I ask for. We are in the Champions [Stage] (laughs) for sure we will try but I just want them to have fun and enjoy being here.

Into The Breach will be facing off against Vitality. Regardless of the result, the team has blown all expectations out of the water and will leave Paris with their heads held high.