woxic: “Every match should be like a final for us.”

Right now, I’m feeling a mix of so many different emotions. First, because this is the first time in my life I’ve made it to a Major semifinal. Second, this is my first time playing at the LANXESS Arena. It’s just incredible. I can’t even describe it.

As the game went on, we realized they weren’t putting that much pressure on us with their shooting, so we told ourselves, “This is going to be our game. We just need to stay focused, just like we did in the group stage and in our previous matches.” I think we managed to do that. I’m glad that no one fell out of the game, even if things weren’t going well on their screen. And, to be honest, it didn’t feel anything like our previous playoff runs. In terms of the team, communication, and everything overall—everything on TeamSpeak was practically perfect.

It’s more about individual work. Not the whole team together, but each person separately. Personally, it really helps me to be able to vent and talk about what’s bothering me or what’s going on with me. I guess the rest of the guys do the same. We don’t discuss each other or tell the psychologist about other players. Everyone works on themselves. And we’ve all started smiling more often. I guess that’s all I can say.

Every match has to feel like a final for us. Just like today. We say, “Guys, this is the final.” And we’ll do the same in the next game. The main thing is to stay just as calm as we were today. I think if we can maintain this mindset in the semifinals, why not do the same in the finals? But I don’t want to jinx it. I don’t want to make big claims. All the teams that made it to the Top 8 here are very strong. Anyone can achieve anything. But I really believe in my teammates and in myself. We’re capable of showing much more. Today was good. It was great. But we can do much better. Because we need to. We need to get stronger. In the next match, we need to play even better.