How Portugal went from Antwerp heartbreak to fielding seven players at a Major

For the first time, there will be a Portuguese team at a Major as part of the country's largest-ever contingent.

As KOI's players got up from their seats after beating fnatic 2-0 in the Europe RMR, Renato "⁠stadodo⁠" Gonçalves felt a wave of emotions overtake him. He was soon pulled into an embrace by Tiago "⁠JUST⁠" Moura, who knew just how much this moment meant to his teammate.

The pair had been agonizingly close to the Antwerp Major two years earlier. With SAW up 15-14 on the decider map, Inferno, against Outsiders in the Europe RMR's 2-2 pool, stadodo found himself in a 1v2 post-plant situation. After killing Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev with a no-scope AWP shot, he waited for Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali to come to him and tried another no-scope, this time getting only a leg shot. Jame won the duel and proceeded to defuse the bomb with just 0.02 seconds left on the clock.

There was no recovering from that. SAW went on to lose the match in overtime, missing out on a historical qualification for a Major. "I'm a little heartbroken for SAW," analyst Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam said on the broadcast after the match. "They had it. One pixel on that no-scope and they would have been through."

stadodo went over that round "100, 200, 300 times," analyzing his every decision and pondering what he could have done differently. He concluded that the round wasn't on him, but shreds of self-doubt lingered in his mind until he finally managed to get a Major spot.

"Honestly, a weight has been lifted," he told HLTV. "It was only when we qualified that I realized that I was not at 100 percent mentally and that there was this barrier blocking my evolution and my game.

"I could feel that something wasn't right. I was afraid of harming my team or not doing things well. Since we qualified, I feel that I am much more loose, confident, and stronger mentally. It was a huge emotional release."

One day after KOI punched their ticket to Copenhagen, SAW also booked a spot at the Major. The Portuguese team managed to complete a surprising qualification run from 0-2, beating Ninjas in Pyjamas, Enterprise and fnatic without dropping a single map.

To the astonishment of many, Portuguese Counter-Strike is enjoying its moment in the sunshine. Throughout CS:GO's history, only one Portuguese player, Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, competed in Majors; all of a sudden, there will be seven at the Copenhagen Major, where Portugal will be the fourth most-represented nation, only behind Russia (23), Brazil (20) and Denmark (11).

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Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira and Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes, SAW's only remaining players from the team that nearly made it to Antwerp, also experienced an unbelievable feeling of elation when they finally managed to qualify for the Major. The moment they reached the milestone made all the hard work they had put in since the 1.6 days worth it.

"This is the main goal that players fight for," roman told HLTV. "This is what we practice every day for. We don't work eight hours a day, we are working day and night. It's all we can think of, and everything we do, we do it with this goal in mind, to be at a Major and leave our mark on the game that we love so much. This is something that really makes me happy.

"Unfortunately, it came a bit late in our careers, because he [MUTiRiS] and I think that we could have been here sooner. Sadly, we couldn't do it earlier, but better late than never."

During the first two days in Bucharest, it looked as if the ghosts of RMRs past would continue to haunt SAW. A 6-13 defeat to Virtus.pro was followed by a 1-13 thrashing at the hands of 9 Pandas, putting the team on the verge of crashing out of their third consecutive RMR without a single victory.

Criticism mounted online, and the players began to deal with feelings of self-doubt. According to head coach Daniel "⁠NABOWOW⁠" Brito, there were tears on the bus ride back to the player hotel.

"I think that was one of the toughest days I have ever had as a player," roman reflected. "We were heading towards another 0-3 and wondering, 'Are we good enough? Could it be that our time has passed? What are we doing wrong?'"

Despite the somber mood, the atmosphere within the camp remained positive. That evening, over dinner, the team discussed what they had been doing wrong. "We talked about playing our own game, without fear of losing and without respecting the opponents [too much]," MUTiRiS recalled.

That hard talk proved to be the catalyst that spurred on SAW to produce impressive performances in the next three series, in which they conceded an average of four rounds per map. "That victory gave us so much confidence," roman said of the NIP series, the first of their three wins. "We played much more loose after that."

He added: "We always knew we could be at a Major. Of course, when you're 0-2 it's much harder to have that in your mind, but we always knew that we had more than enough quality to be there, because we show that every day in practice. We know our level."

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For the 2022 SAW roster, the failure to reach the Antwerp Major was the beginning of the end. The team still attended two more LAN events, ESL Masters Spain Season 11 Finals and the Master League Portugal IX Finals, (finishing second to FTW on both occasions) before stadodo, Omar "⁠arki⁠" Chakkor and head coach Rui "⁠vts⁠" Soares were benched.

roman and MUTiRiS brushed off the suggestion that the manner in which they had lost to Outsiders forced them to pull the trigger on changes. But for a team that had been together since the start of 2020, little cracks had widened and become impossible to ignore.

"It happens with every team," MUTiRiS explained. "After such a long time together, it seems that the rounds that go wrong are always the same, that the problems are always the same.

"What happened at the RMR can happen to anyone. Then, we also lost the Portuguese league, and I think that after that, we realized we needed something new. I think it was the best decision, for us and them. We had been together for such a long time that we needed to freshen things up."

SAW loaded up on young talent by signing the FTW duo of João "⁠story⁠" Vieira (who returned to the team after an unsuccessful two-month spell in 2021) and Michel "⁠ewjerkz⁠" Pinto, two of Portugal's most promising talents. As part of the deal, stadodo and vts moved in the opposite direction — a necessary step back for the AWPer, who had been on the brink of burnout during his final months with SAW.

The new SAW roster showed some promise online, winning the Elisa Invitational Fall 2022 and ESL Challenger League Season 43 Europe, but it struggled to translate that into LAN success. After picking up just two victories across four international LAN events, the team snatched another player from FTW, Rafael "⁠arrozdoce⁠" Wing, to replace JUST.

The sudden loss of one of his team's best players came as a blow to stadodo, who for some time wondered whether the ship had sailed on him. He was starting to develop his craft as an in-game leader, which helped him to get a new perspective on the game and taught him how to better deal with the emotions of those around him and his own, but he knew that opportunities in the Iberian scene were extremely limited.

As stadodo began to weigh up his options abroad, JUST came knocking, asking if he would be interested in joining him on Movistar Riders (who would later merge with KOI) to fill the void created by the departure of 9z-bound Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez.

It was the sort of offer he had dreamed of, but the reaction from a number of fans took a bit of the shine off the special moment. "The Spanish CS community didn't think I still had the level to play here," he said. "It was a bit hard to deal with that situation and read some of the comments. But my time with FTW [as an IGL] had made me stronger mentally. All I could think was, 'I am going to prove them wrong. I have the level to play here and I'm going to show it.'"

During the unveiling of Movistar KOI in Madrid, stadodo felt that his team was just another team, one that didn't get much attention from KOI co-founder Ibai Llanos, who had no prior connection to Counter-Strike. But this quickly changed during the road to the Major: the Spanish internet celebrity, who has over 15 million followers on Twitch, closely followed the team's progress and co-streamed some of their open qualifier matches, peaking at nearly 68,000 concurrent viewers.

"I think he had never watched a CS match before," stadodo said. "Nowadays, I think we are the team because we won him over. We've brought to the game a fanbase that had never watched CS, we've brought Ibai, who now loves watching CS. Of course, winning helps, because if we didn't win, it wouldn't be as beautiful.

"I think the support we get at KOI is different from what we get from a normal CS fanbase. When we lose, I feel a lot more support than usual. CS fans are a lot more critical."

When KOI beat fnatic to a Major spot, stadodo's phone began blowing up. He had several congratulatory messages waiting for him, but most of the buzz was about a four-word tweet by Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub during the Inferno game that read: "stadodo is pretty good."

"I think 90 percent of the messages I got were like, 'kennyS said this, kennyS said this!" [stadodo] recalled. "In fact, I called my brothers, and the first thing they said was not 'congratulations' but 'have you seen kennyS' tweet?'

"It's always good when you are praised. I'm trying to stay level-headed, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel very good."

kennyS had equally warm words for SAW after they qualified for the Major. The French legend was among the group of community figures who have become enamored with one of the most captivating feel-good Major stories in recent years.

It's easy to forget now, but SAW explored selling their team in June 2020, six months after its launch following a split in the Giants camp, due to financial issues. SAW then managed to find a handful of partners to keep the organization running, and they now field teams in three different games and support a number of content creators. Later this year, they will inaugurate the SAW Esports Arena, an 800-square-meter venue in Vila Nova de Gaia.

"One of our goals was to be at a Major," MUTiRiS said. "It's certainly a great help for an organization like ours. There will be a very big cash injection, which will definitely help."

MUTiRiS is alluding to the sticker earnings from the Copenhagen Major. As the countdown to the event grows louder and louder, the anticipation for the release of the sticker and signature capsules is rising among the players, especially the Major ​​debutants. Last year, players earned a minimum of $200,000 from the Paris Major's signature capsules, a record sum. There is no guarantee, though, that the earnings from the Copenhagen Major will reach the same heights.

"We don't want to set any expectations about the sticker money because no one knows for sure how much it will be or even if there will be stickers," roman said, referring to the 2021 Stockholm Major, where in-game signatures were only added to the game for the players who reached the playoffs.

"There will have to be," MUTiRiS responded, laughing.

roman added: "There will have to be, right? Unless there's another pandemic and then we'd be out of luck. But of course, if the earnings are similar to the previous Major's, it would change our lives. It's a bit of a reward. We worked so hard to get here and we've finally done it."

stadodo is also trying his best to stay grounded, afraid that he might jinx it. "dav1g and mopoz were at the Stockholm Major and they didn't get stickers, so they're a bit paranoid about it," he said. "They won't rest until the stickers are out. I'm staying focused on the game and I'm not worrying about how much money we will get. When it happens, I'll decide what to do with it. But of course, I'll try to put it to good use."

He added: "JUST won't stop talking about it. So even if I don't want to think about it, I have to, because he's making me. We're really anxious. We really want the stickers to be out so I can plaster them all over my weapons."

Valve's regional rankings determined that SAW and KOI will face off in the first round of the Major. There's plenty of history between the two teams and the players on both camps, making for one of the spiciest matchups that the Opening Stage could throw up.

"I think it will be great to watch," stadodo said. "And I'm glad it's the first round because neither team will be eliminated or win anything. It will be a match for the fans to enjoy. They will be able to watch their favorite players at a Major, representing the Iberian scene."

"We've faced each other so many times, so the thing that is going to change is the tournament we're playing in," MUTiRiS noted. "I think it will be good for the fans because, normally, these are good games to watch. We know each other really well, so it will come down to which of the two gets a better feeling for the game and is better on the day."

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Opening Stage
17/03/2024	SAW 16:00 KOI	Match

SAW enter the Copenhagen Major with the wind in their sails after climbing to their peak ranking of 18th on Monday. The 2-0 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas began a winning streak that has stretched to nine series across three tournaments. Last Sunday, the Portuguese team qualified for the BLAST Premier Spring Final after taking down Liquid, Cloud9 and OG.

With so many eyes on the team, SAW will have a hard time fending off interest in their most prized assets. At the Europe RMR, ewjerkz raised eyebrows with an impressive 1.29 rating. More recently, arrozdoce earned widespread praise for his performances in the Spring Showdown, which made him the MVP of the tournament by BLAST.

SAW CEO Joaquim Regadas has said that part of the sticker money will be used to offer improved deals to the players, as well as to rebuild the academy.

The idea that the team might fall victim to its own success doesn't keep MUTiRiS or roman up at night. "I don't think about those things," MUTiRiS noted. "If I did, I would be borrowing trouble." roman added: "If it happens, we will deal with it then."

After two years when they couldn't help but wonder what might have been, roman, MUTiRiS, stadodo and JUST have finally made it to Counter-Strike's biggest stage, albeit on different teams. Knowing all too well just how fine a line can separate success from heartbreak, they are determined to seize the moment. In the twilight of their playing days, MUTiRiS and roman are also hoping to use this opportunity, more than 15 years after they began playing the game competitively, to inspire a new generation of talent.

"When fox achieved what he achieved, I think he brought a lot of new players to the game and he showed that it was possible for Portuguese players to compete at the highest level," roman said. "I think our qualification will bring a lot more people to the game and will motivate players to try to achieve what we achieved, or what fox achieved.

"What we, stadodo and JUST accomplished is a big achievement for Portuguese CS. I am sure that there will be more Majors with Portuguese players."