roman: "Not having Golden by our side was a factor, but we knew what we signed up for"

SAW could not qualify for back-to-back Majors after falling to BetBoom.

Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira and Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes finally made the first Major of their long careers in March, but will miss the Shanghai Major after SAW were eliminated by BetBoom.

The squad endured a tricky period after making top-four at IEM Cologne, eventually leading to them benching star rifler Rafael "⁠arrozdoce⁠" Wing and parting ways with coach Danny "⁠BERRY⁠" Krüger.

After adding André "⁠Ag1l⁠" Gil and Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim, the squad did win ESL Challenger Katowice on debut but their honeymoon was swiftly ended over three days in China.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A
17/11/2024	SAW Finished 11:13 SINNERS	Match
17/11/2024	SAW Finished 13:8 UNiTY	Match
18/11/2024	Falcons Finished 5:13 SAW	Match
19/11/2024	Natus Vincere Finished 2:0 SAW	Match
20/11/2024	SAW Finished 0:2 BetBoom	Match

"We thought it was the best decision for the team and we don't regret it," roman tells HLTV about removing BERRY and it's the same sentiment for arrozdoce.

Regardless of the turmoil, though, roman knows SAW could, and should, have done better. Entering as the No. 5 seed, they "knew that [they] had the level to beat most of the teams here."

That they did not, is down to them and them alone: "It just hurts, that we weren't good enough."

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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Unfortunately, it's 2-3 again after making the last major and missing this one, tell me how you're feeling about this

I mean it hurts, we knew that we had the level to beat most of the teams here and we were aiming to be at the major. It just hurts, that we weren't good enough. That's it basically.

Do you think it goes back to the opening day SINNERS game, because that's what put you on this path, often it's the BO1 upset, then it means that you need to play harder teams later on and things like that, how much you put this down to day one?

Nothing at all. I felt like we were better than BetBoom. I think we should have beaten them. I know that we can do so much better than this, and I'm just disappointed. I don't blame the loss to SINNERS on how we performed today. This is on us, and we got what we deserved, we should have been better.

How hard was it to not have Golden behind you during the games to help you reset and things like that?

Of course it matters, because he is an experienced IGL, and everything he says always makes sense to us. He's always there to help us. Not having him by our side during the matches is a factor but we knew what we signed up for. We just did what we thought was best for us and it was to get Golden on the team, and it was our possibility to do better.

Can you speak at all about BERRY's departure because it i think it is hard to know from the outside how that decision came about, knowing that you wouldn't be able to get a replacement coach to stand behind you?

I think I have spoken about it before. We thought it was the best decision for the team and we don't regret it, so there's not much I can add.

What you think was the main difference between Katowice and here, is it the pressure or? Because you played some good teams there, you beat some good teams obviously, what do you put this down to?

I think we just didn't perform at our usual level, probably we faced harder teams in Katowice, the only best team that we faced was NAVI, which was a really tough game. But overall I think that we just didn't show up this tournament, on the most important matches, and that's it, it's on us.

On ag1L as well, i think he had a very good start in Katowice, but it's hard for him to be thrown in the deep end here, what do you think about him, there's still potential there right?

Of course. He is a great player. These games, he had bad moments as well, but it happens to everybody. He did some great things here, and I feel like he can just get better from now on. I'm happy that we have him on the team.

Is there any sorrow that arrozdoce isn't here for you at all?

Not at all, he made his decision, we made ours, and we did what was the best for the team.

Going into next year, how confident are you you're going to be able to keep this team together?

We'll see, we just finish the major, probably everyone is going to have a talk and we'll see. But everything that will happen, it'll be for the team, we'll do the best for the team and whatever happens I think everybody will understand, and that's it.