NAF: "I hope there's always a slot in the calendar year for an event in Brazil"

Liquid felt the warmth of the fans in their first matches in Rio and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic had nothing but compliments for the Brazilian crowd.

Liquid had a rough start at the IEM Rio Major, losing their Legends Stage opener against a well-greased MOUZ that came in ready after a 3-0 run in the Challengers Stage. The North Americans didn't fret and bounced back by taking out the stage's underdogs, Sprout, to secure a 1-1 record heading into the second day of play.

NAF took some time after the matches and after meeting with the local fans to chat with HLTV about Liquid's shaky start in Brazil against MOUZ and their recovery against Sprout. "With MOUZ coming from the Challengers Stage, going 3-0, they got their wins and were feeling the momentum, feeling confident," the Canadian rifler said, "whereas we came in very stale, very slow."

The three-time top 20 player of the year also spoke about the team's confidence-building bootcamp and how a few days of rest before the Major contributed to the slow start, but that it has not put a damper on the North American squad, who believe in their ability to fight the best teams in the world at the event in Rio.

NAF also spoke highly of the crowd in Brazil and how he loves coming to play in the South American country. "I love being in Brazil. People may think that I'm just saying it, but nah," he said. "Brazil is just such a unique atmosphere, the fans here are nothing like any other fans."

Let's start off with the first game of the day. You played MOUZ, who were coming hot off the Challengers Stage with a 3-0 record. Why couldn't you keep up?

I feel like there's no real clear explanation, the only explanation I could really say is that I guess we never entered the server. We were feeling a bit of jitters at the start, we couldn't get anything rolling and before we knew it we were down 0-7 or 0-8 on the CT side. In our heads we kind of maybe thought that the game was lost there, we were individually lost ourselves and just didn't have any answers.

With MOUZ coming from the Challengers Stage, going 3-0, they got their wins and were feeling the momentum, feeling confident, whereas we came in very stale, very slow. Nothing really worked. We just said to ourselves after the game that 'the Major starts now, the little warm-up game didn't go our way.' But well played to MOUZ, they played well and came out of the gate gunning, so props to them.

You mentioned having a bit of jitters. Why do you think that is? Do Majors hit a bit different, or what was it?

We came here like a day earlier than we were supposed to, so we had a few days where we weren't doing too much and we kind of cooled off. During our bootcamp and our practice we were very confident, a lot of things were going right and we seemed to have everything that we could think of ironed out. We were really confident coming into the event, but coming here a bit early to deal with the jet lag and all of that, we came into the game a little slow.

We were sitting around a bit during the past days, obviously we were watching the opponents, watching the Challengers games and trying to study as much as we can, but when it came to individual and team practice we haven't had it in a couple of days so we were a bit rusty. But I can't take away anything from MOUZ, they played phenomenal against us.

Is there a reason you couldn't practice here, or was it more of a choice?

We kind of chose to relax because we were really confident with how the bootcamp went and we really felt like we had everything down. It was mainly individual mindset and skill that we had to focus on. When the MOUZ game started we just felt a little lost, our minds were just a bit empty, and it was over before we knew it. It was a bit of jitters, a bit of needing to get back into things. We were just really slow.

Then you played Sprout, who are the big underdogs at this stage, and it was a good match-up for you to get going again. You played them on Inferno, was there no second thought about going into that map again after MOUZ?

No, not necessarily. It's what I mentioned before, against MOUZ we just knew that it was the first game. We were maybe not going to be hitting every headshot and winning every round out of the gate. It really felt like we needed to get a bit of a warm-up in. Going into the Sprout game we didn't have any doubts on Inferno or anything like that, it was just about how we played as individuals. As a team we just weren't there and we just said 'forget the MOUZ game, pretend it's 0-0, reset and the Major starts now.'

You're 1-1 now after the first day. How do you feel at the end of the day, going into day two?

Beating Sprout was a huge confidence and motivation boost, even if we know that they're not favorites. Beating them helps us get momentum and confidence back after the MOUZ game and it's going to reassure us that if we're there as a team, if we're there as individuals, there's a reason we're a top three team in the world.

We all know what we're capable of and we know that we can become a top one team. We just need to make sure when we go into these games that we're there mentally and as a team to avoid the classic slow Liquid start.

You mention being a top three team, you're fighting up there in the ranking and that makes you a favorite at the Major. People expect a deep run. How have you internalized that?

On paper we're a top three team. Do some of us have some doubts about us belonging there? Somewhat. It's safe to say we haven't really played FaZe, we haven't played NAVI. We've been kind of sneaking around and playing the teams just outside of that, so some will say 'I guess you can be top three but not top one or two.'

We just need to keep playing, keep grinding, and hopefully we can come across NAVI or FaZe and prove our worth to everyone, prove that we belong in the top three and hopefully in the future become the top team.

Do you feel like you can go far and fulfill those expectations?

Yeah, I fully agree that we can fulfill those expectations. On paper we have the right team; we have a phenomenal AWPer in oSee, an insane entry/aggression player in YEKINDAR, and the rest of us are filling the roles we need to fill for the team. EliGE is very comfortable ever since YEKINDAR came, so if oSee is comfortable, YEKINDAR is comfortable, ElIGE is comfortable, then I believe we can beat anyone and I believe we can be a top one team.

We just need to make sure when the server starts that we join it and that we start off strong. [laughs] There has always been a way in Liquid, you get momentum. You win a pistol round, the first gun round, and then the sky's the limit. We need to keep pushing ourselves because we have the right pieces, we just need to keep going.

You guys just got here for the Legends Stage, so it was your first matches up in front of the crowd. Liquid has some history with Brazil, EliGE speaks Portuguese, so how is it having this crowd behind you?

I love being in Brazil. People may think that I'm just saying it, but nah. Brazil is just such a unique atmosphere, the fans here are nothing like any other fans. It helps a lot that we played with steel and TACO, we had zews as our coach, we had FalleN. So it helps, since they were on our team the Brazilians show us more love. I love that shit.

Brazilian fans are all amazing, I was out there signing stuff for like an hour. It's always just a joy to be here and I hope there's always a slot in the calendar year for an event in Brazil because they deserve it. I want to come back here whenever I can, I love it here!