REZ on GamerLegion’s performance in the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major: “We expected more from ourselves”
Daria Ushakova
GamerLegion rifler Fredrik “REZ” Sterner admitted in an interview at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 that he had hoped for a more confident performance from both himself and the team, and also spoke about the tough match on Overpass against BIG.
On the match against BIG
To be honest, I feel like we’re not playing well enough right now. We expected more from ourselves—a more confident performance against them as well as against BetBoom Team yesterday. So we definitely need to pull ourselves together before the second stage. ...> We made some really serious mistakes, lost rounds we should have won, and that made us angry and really frustrated.
On expectations
It’s probably due to nerves because it’s a Major, the pressure, and also our own expectations. People thought we’d win 3-0 and destroy everyone in the first stage. Maybe that could have happened, but nerves probably got the better of us.
On playing Overpass
To be honest, we didn’t prepare well for this map. We were just running what we’d practiced before, even that pistol round. <...> I think that’s exactly why we ran into trouble; we had to play more intuitively, and the score was close.
Earlier, GamerLegion swept BIG in the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 and advanced to the second stage of the tournament. On Overpass, Janusz “Snax” Pogozhelski’s team managed to snatch a victory in overtime (16-14), and on Ancient, they won by a narrow margin of 13-11.
Daria Ushakova
