roman: "The game against NIP gave us our confidence back"

The Portuguese side bounced back from a 0-2 record to qualify for the Major.

SAW became the first Portuguese roster to qualify for a Major after they progressed through the PGL Major Copenhagen Europe RMR with a 3-2 record. Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes and company went one better after coming agonizingly close just under two years ago, when a last-second defuse cost them a place at the Antwerp Major.

While only two members of that team remain on the SAW roster, former teammates Tiago "⁠JUST⁠" Moura and Renato "⁠stadodo⁠" Gonçalves also made it to the Copenhagen Major with KOI. Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira says that seeing his ex-teammates qualify gives him immense joy, especially due to their shared anguish at the Antwerp RMR.

After SAW's victory against fnatic, roman sat down with HLTV to discuss his joy of representing Portugal at a Major, their comeback from the 0-2 pool, and the impact the previous RMR heartbreak had on him.

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You've just qualified for a Major. Talk me through your feelings right now.

I still can't believe it. We were 0-2 after the 9 Pandas game, where we got trashed 13-1, and I felt we couldn't do it. I thought we weren't good enough, and I lost a lot of confidence. But we had a team talk, and we all knew that we couldn't have any fear. We had to believe in ourselves and show what we do every day in practice, where we could beat anyone. So we just said, "Fuck it, let's go qualify."

What changed from day one to the next three games?

We went 2-0 in the next three games, and I think the three teams barely reached eight rounds in the games we played. I would say that we are a team that is a lot better in best-of-threes than in best-of-ones. It happens to us in practice, if we have a bad start, we sometimes can't get back to the game. So that's what happened against 9 Pandas. Then we just let go of the fear of losing and played our game.

We started well against NIP. They are a great team, but we made them look really bad. I know they have a lot of pressure on them, but [we won] because of our work in practice, that's on us. That's basically it. The most important game was against NIP, it gave us our confidence back.

Until this Major, fox was the only Portuguese player that played at a Major. Yesterday, some of your ex-teammates qualified with KOI, and today you did. How proud does this make not only yourself but the whole Portuguese scene?

Two years ago here in Romania, we had the RMR, and we were MUTiRiS, JUST, stadodo, and arki, and now four of us qualified for this Major. I'm so happy for them and a bit sad because I know that arki is good enough to play with us here, but he isn't. I'm so proud to put Portugal on a Major again, it's so important for me.

Did the previous RMR give you extra motivation, especially for you and MUTiRiS?

It gave us motivation, but it also gave us a bit of fear. We were winning 12-0, and I had some thoughts that it might happen again. We lost the pistol round, eco, and then the first gun round, and I was like, "Is it happening again?" But everyone on the team was calm and confident, which helped a lot.

I also want to ask you about ewjerkz. He had a fantastic tournament, so tell me how is it to play with him?

He's a special guy, a killing machine. What impresses me the most about him is that it looks like he has no feelings. He doesn't get affected by losing or winning, or if he has 30 or zero frags. He can be 0-15, and he will do 30 frags in the next half, it's like he doesn't feel anything. His veins are ice cold, and it's a pleasure to play with him.

I also have to talk about arrozdoce and story, they are both incredible. story is so intelligent and mature for this age, and while I hate to compare players on the team, I have to say story is the most important piece of the team.

You now have one month till the Major. What is your plan until then?

We qualified for the BLAST Showdown last week, we beat KOI, so we have BLAST. I'm not sure what tournaments we're playing, but of course, we're focusing on the Major. We want to come to the Major and be ready to beat every team we play against. So that's our plan, to bootcamp and train a lot.