
FUT Esports rifler Dziugss Steponavičius commented on the team’s advancement to the third stage of the tournament in an interview at IEM Cologne Major 2026, discussed preparations for G2 Esports, and shared his impressions of his debut Major.
I’m not surprised. We prepared well for the tournament and don’t see this as anything special, so there’s no extra pressure. Everything’s fine.
Nothing special. The coach just said we needed to reset after losing a map. We play well on Ancient, we’ve practiced it, so we just went out there, showed our CS, and took them apart.
We practiced a lot on Anubis. And we saw that G2 isn’t that good on this map, and I think they haven’t played it much either, so we just picked it.
I think I’ll lose my first match at the Major at the very next Major.
I was a little nervous during the first match, but then I talked myself down and just focused on the game, that’s all. I told myself, “This is just a regular tournament; it happens twice a year, and that’s it—it’s just a tournament.”
Earlier, FUT Esports defeated G2 Esports 2-1 and finished the second stage of the tournament with a 3-0 record. Thus, the team led by “dziugss” Steponavičius advanced to Stage 3 and will continue their fight for the championship title there.
Photo — Stephanie Lindgren, BLAST.