Eternal Fire player Özgür "woxic" Eker discussed the reasons for his team's poor performance at the recent IEM Cologne 2024, where Eternal Fire finished second to last and earned $4,500 in prize money, in an interview with Cybersport.ru.
"We made a lot of small mistakes in our game against Complexity. We were leading on Dust2 and almost pushed it to a third map, but then we lost. If we had managed to finish that map without so many errors, we might have taken the third map as well. After that, we faced The MongolZ, and it was another very close match, but again, we started making mistakes—minor details in a few rounds decided the outcome.
I can’t say we played badly. We showed good gameplay, and everyone performed well individually, but… sometimes, it just seems like it's not meant to be."
The Turkish esports player also talked about the goals Eternal Fire has set for themselves. According to Eker, the team is aiming for a top-8 finish at the upcoming Major in Shanghai.
"We constantly set new goals for ourselves. For instance, we wanted to win the Indian tournament [Skyesports Championship 2024] and another one in Abu Dhabi [YaLLa Compass 2024], but we didn’t succeed in either. We also aimed to reach at least the quarter-finals in Cologne, but that didn’t work out either… So, I won’t say we want to win BetBoom Dacha or some other upcoming tournament—I might be a bit cursed.
But seriously, we want to win here in Serbia and, of course, win ESL Pro League Season 20. At the Shanghai Major, we want to at least make it back into the top 8. We’ve already played in the quarter-finals before, and it was an incredible feeling—stepping on stage in front of the fans at a Major! I first experienced that in 2018, and the second time had to wait six years. I hope we can achieve it again in Shanghai. I know I have fans in China, and I really want to play in front of the local audience."
Eternal Fire will participate in BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2 in Serbia, starting their tournament run with a match against Aurora in the group stage.