flameZ ahead of the match against Falcons at the IEM Cologne Major: “I think we’re better than them—I just have a feeling.”
Team Vitality rifler Shahar “flameZ” Shushan and Team Falcons captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen shared their thoughts in an interview at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 ahead of their quarterfinal match.
flameZ spoke about his team’s mindset:
We’ve always been confident going into the playoffs, especially at Majors. If you make it to the playoffs, it doesn’t matter what your stats are—even if it’s 3-2 and you lost some rounds in a silly way. If you make it to the decisive stage, that’s already a success.
In addition, Team Vitality’s rifler shared his thoughts on Team Falcons:
I think we’re better than them; I just have a feeling about it. ...> That said, to be honest, they’ve beaten us twice—once with a stand-in, and the second time at IEM Rio 2026. But this is a decisive match, and we’ve prepared better than before. But we’ll see how it goes; I don’t know which of us is the favorite—it’s a bit of a strange matchup. But I know we’re very confident and want to show off some good Counter-Strike. If they play better than us, I’m okay with losing.
For his part, karrigan also assessed the upcoming match:
In terms of potential, I’d say we have a 60 or 70 percent chance of winning. We’re capable of playing well, so I’m really looking forward to the match. We haven’t shown incredible play at this tournament yet, and, in my opinion, today will be interesting because we’ll need to perform very well to beat a team like Team Vitality.
In addition, the Team Falcons captain reflected on their recent match against Natus Vincere in the group stage of the IEM Cologne Major 2026:
Even though we’re not playing our best CS right now, we have to fight to win. We’ve already shown that many times, including on the arena stage, and that’s exactly what I took away from that match. Of course, we can play better, and we all know it.
Right now, Team Vitality and Team Falcons are playing a quarterfinal match at the IEM Cologne Major 2026. The winner will face Team Spirit—who previously defeated G2 Esports—in the semifinals, while the loser will be eliminated from the tournament.
Photo by Sophie Barrowclough, BLAST.
