YEKINDAR on facing Falcons: "m0NESY is great but we've got molodoy; NiKo or kyousuke are great, but we have KSCERATO"

The Latvian rifler is looking forward to playing against Falcons.

After picking up two trophies at events that did not feature the best teams in the world, FURIA are looking to prove they have what it takes to win the most stacked tournaments as they continue their campaign at IEM Chengdu.

It has gone well thus far, FURIA having just beaten The MongolZ in the quarter-finals, and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis is hoping for more. "We didn't even think about not reaching semis at least," he told HLTV in a post-game interview. "Our goal right now is to win events and win higher calibre events."

With only two matches standing between FURIA and their best event win yet with the current lineup, YEKINDAR spoke to HLTV about their game against The MongolZ and gave his thoughts on how FURIA can take the next step.

Listen to the interview here.

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2-0 over The MongolZ, some crazy rounds from molodoy to get it over the line as well. What was it like watching those go down?

We kind of have a rivalry with two teams right now: The MongolZ, who we played six times during our whole period as a team, and G2, who we played six times over this season alone. When you've played a team so many times you don't necessarily even need to prepare that much, you know how to play against them and what to expect. I feel like now with controlez they play a little bit different, but still the foundation is hard for them to change because of the time limit that they had.

I didn't expect Mirage to go so smoothly, we have had our troubles during the first and this season on Mirage, but it's a momentum map I guess. That's always the risk when you pick it. I'm super happy that we won, molodoy showed great character when, on Mirage, he got the 1v2 through the smoke with an AK. When the crowd was cheering "molodoy, molodoy," I knew he was going to win.

And how about that ending as well, with his clutch and also the ace right before it?

Techno jiggled for no reason I think, if he just stayed then molodoy wouldn't have time. I guess it is the arena games, it is stressful and sometimes these mistakes are going to happen, so don't hate on Techno but maybe love molodoy instead.

I was going to ask about that record. You said it's 3-3 for you, now I think it's 4-3 for the whole year for FURIA. Talk to me a little bit about that recurring matchup, you mentioned they played a little bit different, can you explain what it was?

We didn't really have a chance to look at their CT side on Mirage because it was just a momentum pistol round then anti-eco, and then they were forcing for the whole game. I think it was more about how controlez is slotting in to play Senzu's positions, and it was hard to understand a little bit.

I think they were lost a little bit for a moment because bLitz and Senzu changed roles before Senzu left, putting Senzu into these star positions, Conn player and whatever. I think now they don't know where they are it, and I feel like now they are getting on a highroll, reaching playoffs for them in this event was great. It's always a pleasure to play against them.

For you, was making the semis what you expected after the recent results, after winning Thunderpick as well?

I don't know if you could say that reaching semis was the expectation, it was just more about a feeling. We knew that we are playing very well, we're very very confident and we didn't even think about not reaching semis at least, I didn't hear any conversation about what our goal was. Our goal right now is to win events and win higher calibre events.

We won Thunderpick and FISSURE, which people of course can say were not the best top-tier teams in the world, but this is the next step for us. I think for us we don't mind it coming later or now, we're just following and happy with each other, practicing and going to events, and maybe this event it's going to happen, or maybe it's going to happen some other event. Slowly but surely, we are becoming a better team.

Talking about that next step, it has been a conversation as to beating the likes of Vitality, MOUZ. What does it take to do that for you here?

What we lacked was having experience to play against Vitality. The problem is that Vitality and MOUZ and many… Vitality and MOUZ are what I would pick because Spirit changed players and they may be a completely different team right now. But those are the teams that you have to play against to understand how you need to play against them, you know?

The first time we played against Vitality at EPL we honestly got smacked, because we were playing the wrong game against them. We kind of came to the conclusion of how we would want to play, which doesn't mean we are going to win against them the next time we play, but at least it's going to give us some more chances, in our heads at least.

I feel like, if you look at MOUZ for example, they haven't beaten Vitality the first eight or seven times, then they beat them. That's what we're missing, we just need the repetitions and the chances, because that's where you learn. The more we're going to lose against Vitality, the happier I'm going to be in a way. Not to the degree that I'm gonna be super happy, but at least I know we're going to get the necessary information and output for ourselves to improve.

Lastly, talking about the game against Falcons tomorrow, you beat them 2-0 the last time you played. Obviously, you are looking for a repeat result, but do you think the game's going to go differently in terms of how they approach it?

I think Falcons is one of the most dangerous teams right now, especially with the form of their players. I think m0NESY is great but we've got molodoy. I think you can say NiKo or kyousuke are great, but we have KSCERATO, we have great players as well.

Date	Matches
IEM Chengdu 2025
08/11/2025	Falcons 11:50 FURIA	Match

Even though we won against them the last two times we played against them, it doesn't mean we are going to automatically win tomorrow, both of the games we played were very close. There was a 2v4 on at 12-11 on Train where we could have lost the game instantly. You lose the first map and don't know what to do, you lose the second map, and it could have been 2-0 for them.

I think it's a matter of who's going to have the better day, and I respect them a lot, respect the players. I think they're a great team, I always watch them to learn something new, they have many cool micro-plays. Honestly I just want to play, I want to play against them, I want to suck up some information for them, and I want to learn something. That's our goal right now.