Falcons may have had their difficulties in recent months but with a 2-1 victory over BIG they are now through to the second stage of IEM Cologne 2024. 

SunPayus put in a strong performance against the Germans, and after the game we spoke to the AWPer about his form, mistakes in Falcons’ games, and his readiness for Stage 2 of the tournament. 

A good win for you there, you're through to the next stage, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling good, I'm really grateful because we lost an important eco at the end of Mirage and we should have closed the series 2-0. We played pretty well on Anubis and I'm pretty happy that slowly I'm getting back to my game.

That was a good series for you, how much does that help your confidence?

Right now, I'm working so much and it's boosting my confidence a little bit, but I know I'm not consistent right now, I'm not playing well or putting up numbers at all. I need to keep playing more and more and hope that I get back to my level.

Why do you think you've struggled since the start of CS2?

I don't know [laughs].

Do you just not like the game?

I think it's a lot of things, CS2 came and there were some moves on ENCE and we weren't a team that was together for a long time anyway, then I move to Falcons which is a new team, on a new game, and it's really hard.

Snappi told us yesterday that you're making too many mistakes as a team, how do you work to get those mistakes out of the game?

Just like every team, we make those mistakes, but I think that we're being too hard on ourselves as a team instead of trying to enjoy the game more. Today, for example, we saw better CT sides because we were more in their face and had fun, we didn't care and we just went for the fights together. 

Do you think that's something that will help, playing with confidence even if confidence is low?

Yeah, of course, we are a tough team to beat and in the games we have lost, the other team has played well. However, we make some important mistakes in crucial rounds that do cost us.

Now that you've played some games already, how much will that help going into the next stage?

The next stage is a full reset, every team is 0-0. I hope I can help the team more than in this stage, but let's hope for the best.