molodoy: "If it is a success to be top four for some, it is not for me"

FURIA's Kazakh AWPer shared his thoughts after securing a fourth-place finish in front of his home crowd in Astana.

After opting to switch to an international English-speaking roster with the signings of Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis and AWPer Danil "⁠molodoy⁠" Golubenko, FURIA managed to find quick success in the form of a fourth-place finish in their debut at PGL Astana 2025.

Now coming off the back of a lengthy travel day, FURIA fell short in their opening match at IEM Dallas against The MongolZ. The team will now be preparing to fight for their tournament lives in the lower bracket against Lynn Vision.

Read more

Astana jet-setters falter in Dallas openers

Shortly after his team's loss to The MongolZ, new addition molodoy sat down with HLTV to discuss his move to FURIA and the transition to speaking in English, the feeling of playing in front of the crowd in Kazakhstan, and the team's plans for the upcoming BLAST.tv Austin Major.

This interview was conducted in Russian with the help of Anastasija "⁠Heccu⁠" Tolmačeva and translated by Russian-speaking HLTV staff.

---

First of all, molodoy, I'm sorry about the loss. Do you think your guys' travel schedule sort of played the role in that result?

I believe the eighteen-hour flight really affected us, because all of us are yet to sleep after the flight. Secondly, this event came right after the previous one, so we didn't have time to work on mistakes. Pretty tough.

I wanna know a little bit about your reaction to getting the FURIA offer. And also I was wondering if you knew that this would be an English-speaking project going into it. Or did you only learn about YEKINDAR addition later?

I didn't have any reaction because multiple teams reached out with the interest to sign me. I was just surprised that both FURIA and some other teams wanted to sign me. I knew the team would be switching over to English because when I made the move, YEKINDAR was already planned to be joining as well.

Were those other offers from CIS teams or were they English-speaking teams as well?

English [and] CIS teams.

How has it been playing in English so far?

I think it's not that hard in-game but it's sometimes hard to explain some situations to me during our preparation, and for that, YEKINDAR is helping out.

Other than the language, what would you say the hardest part about tier one play has been so far?

I think the toughest part is flights between the countries because you have to adjust to every country's time zone, and this is the first time I'm experiencing this so far.

Has there been a noticeable difference culturally with the Brazilian players?

I don't think so. The Brazilians are more alike with me, in a way. We're more similar in terms of vibe, and I believe we fit each other.

How is it working with someone with FalleN in particular, who's more experienced?

Firstly, when I came into the team, I didn't expect FalleN to come to Serbia and meet me at the bootcamp. Secondly, you can see the experience straight away because he treats you with respect, despite me not being of his age. He gives freedom in the game. So it's clear straight away the man is experienced.

How did it feel to play in front of a crowd in Kazakhstan?

It was only nice and happy feelings to have my first event in Kazakhstan. The result is not a good one, but I think the Kazakh scene should start growing after this event.

Did you expect to find success so quickly with the team?

I don't think it was this much of a success, because you always want to be a number-one team, and you always aspire for that. If it is a success to be a top four for some, it is not for me.

As far as this event goes, how far do you think FURIA can go, especially with a lot more difficult teams around?

I believe it only depends on us and us only, not the opponent. It will depend on how we will be approaching and how ready we will be for each game. All depends on us.

What are your team's plans before the Major? I know you're in stage two, so would you stay in America, would you go to Europe, where's the pre-Major plan?

We will stay in America till the end of the Major, we will have a bootcamp somewhere around Miami.