Spirit coach about criticism after IEM Cologne 2024

Team Spirit’s CS2 coach, Sergey "hally" Shavaev, reflected on the criticism his team has faced from the community in an interview with HLTV.org during the BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2 event.

He commented, "[Question: when you don't perform to the expectations set for you, it raises many questions. Take the Cologne event, for example. How does the team handle this? Is it an issue for you?] I don’t think it’s an issue, but it is what it is. We always acknowledge that the expectations from the community are understandable because we set a very high bar quickly. Our goal is to progress from tournament to tournament and not pay too much attention to what the media say if we have setbacks.

To reiterate, it’s been six months, and we’ve reached the finals of one tournament and made the playoffs in all the others except IEM Cologne 2024. We won two championships and are now playing in the grand final of BetBoom Dacha. We still have half a season left, and sh1ro only joined us in December. I don’t see what the questions are about.

On social media, people say that chopper only cares about the Major. So, he supposedly prioritises a few tournaments, which leads to Spirit missing some events… Only I and the CEO decide which tournaments the team will play in—no one else. And it’s the management that sets the priorities. Yes, players can express their opinions, but the final decision rests with us.

The same goes for our game plan. If we don’t perform well, viewers see the result of the plan I devised for that particular match."

Previously, Shavaev also discussed his team’s performance at IEM Cologne 2024, where they exited after the group stage.

At the time of this publication, Spirit was competing against Eternal Fire in the grand final of BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2.