tOfu on Team Liquid at The International 2026: “We have good momentum and team morale right now.”
Team Liquid players Michal “Nisha” Jankowski and Erik “tOfu” Engel spoke in an interview at The International 2026 about the results of the group stage and the tournament, and assessed the team’s morale.
On the group stage
tOfu: I think, overall, we’re happy with how we played in the group stage. Mostly because we skipped the elimination matches and went straight to the playoffs. But overall, we had issues in every series—for example, we always lost the first map and had to fight our way back into the game. We didn’t play flawlessly, but on the positive side, we learned something at the end of each series, and usually, when you win, you let your guard down and move on. We had emotions in every match that we had to overcome, fight through, but also learn from, which I think is very good.
Nisha: Usually in the group stage, I don’t worry about the number of losses, but in the back of my mind, I thought that finishing with a 3–2 record was pretty scary.
On the group stage results
Nisha: Our opponents were pretty strong, especially the last two teams, but we finished with a 4–1 record and are very happy about it because we won’t have to play in the knockout rounds, which we failed at last time.
On the team’s morale
tOfu: We’ve got good momentum and a positive atmosphere on the team right now, so I’m happy with how things are going.
On Team Yandex
Nisha: As for Team Yandex: they may have underperformed in the group stage or against us—I’m not sure. They’re usually a strong team against us; I’m not sure we’ve ever beaten them before.
Earlier, commentator Dmitry “Mortalles” Arzhilovsky assessed Team Yandex’s chances in their match against Team Liquid in the upper bracket quarterfinals of The International 2026 on his personal Telegram channel and outlined the conditions for the team’s victory.
Photo — Valve.
