Salvo fall hard at the hands of Furia

Birmingham Salvo have been hyped to breaking point in the past months and week;. "The best team in Europe", "The best team in the world". The latter was proved "false" with the loss to the Dallas Venom in the Individual Finals, yet many saw the loss as unlucky despite the lack of a title, they were still in the top three.

Tonight's match against the Mexico City Furia was meant to be a formality. A challenge for Furia to keep the score "close". They went into the match with the right setting, a 11-3 lead. The pressure was off, everyone expected Salvo to roll. The opposite happened.

Furia rattled off five straight rounds on the counter-terrorist side of de_inferno as Salvo stood by shocked. At one point after being picked off early in the round Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn sat back in his chair with his hands on his head, blinking in disbelief. A small fight back then came from the Salvo corner, as they managed to salvage three of the next four rounds to finish with a fair three to six round score. This is a solid score on the terrorist side of inferno, but against opposition at the expected standard of Furia it was a poor showing.

A bump in the road, a small downside as Salvo would wipe out the memory of the first half with a lock down of the Counter-Terrorist side, something they've done many times before. There was no even less pressure as during the Counter-Strike: Source Sarah Lou had won Dead or Alive Female with a nice margin. At this stage Salvo needed only two rounds to win the entire franchise match.

It would not be easy, with Furia picking up the first round of the half before Salvo could fight back with a fourth round to their tally. At this stage Salvo needed only one more round for the win but Furia weren't going to make it simple. Easy entry into the banana bomb site allowed them to pick when they entered and got the bomb down, RattlesnK not hitting his shots. Unfortunately for Furia they'd try and swap it up, hitting the main bomb site, this proved fatal as pete and wez teamed up to lock it down and win the franchise match for Salvo.

The reaction from the source arena was muted, Salvo seemed embarrassed and set out at 9-5 down to prove they could salvage some pride with a win in overtime, they couldn't. Mexico would go on to take three of the next four rounds and completely reverse my "conservative" prediction of 12-6 to Salvo. Something had gone badly wrong.

Augusto Zapata goes wild as Furia keep the Furia in with a shout of causing one of the biggest upsets in CGS history. Photo: Max Silver - Cadred.org

I spoke with Elliot "Wez" Welsh of the Birmingham Salvo, Jose "SecretAgent" Fernandez and Augusto "NoobZaibot" Zapata after the game. It's Welsh's thoughts that are relevant here.

Hey Elliot, you finished the game with a 12-6 loss, what on earth happened?

We underestimated them; we went into the game expecting a 13-5 win at least. They played unpredictably, it's hard to beat that. When you're preparing against the best teams in the world, such as Dallas Venom, it's a completely different style of play. We don't really have a valid excuse.

Do you think your team let up once the franchise win had been secured?

Obviously we tried to get as many rounds as possible, but when you're in that situation it's hard to get motivation from nowhere. It's a similar situation to PCW's, but still, we should have gotten more rounds.

Did losing the entire franchise match due to your performance in Source ever cross your mind?

We worked out after the first half they needed to get 8 rounds on the terrorist side of inferno to win, I don't think that was ever going to happen. We weren't going to relax until we had won.

Recently your team mate Marc Mangiacapra has come under fire for some poor performances, what do you make of his recent form?

Marc's a Counter-Strike legend, he knows what he is doing, but he has some obviously problems which he needs to work out. You'll have to speak to him about that.

How do you recover from this loss in time for your next game against the Carolina Core?

We have to try and forget about it, I think the way that we play is suited more to teams like Core, better teams than teams who just run around. We should be alright.

A few days ago you faced Dallas Venom in the individual finals for Counter-Strike: Source, you went 5-0 up then let the entire match slip away, what happened then?

We got cocky again. The sixth round that they won was quite lucky, we brought AWP's to pick mid then dropped them for AK's [the map was de_dust2], they pushed out long, pickup up our guns and ended up winning the round. After that they had AWP's and that's a huge part of their game plan. It's kind of lucky on their part in that round, but we should have been more organized and they were the better team on the day.

You've said that you were over confident against Venom, that makes it twice. Will you make sure not to under estimate future opponents?

[Laughs] I hope so, we'll have to see how it goes.

So far the rest of your franchise has been doing well, are you confident your team can go all the way to the trophy and half a million dollars?

Definitely. Everyone has the potential to beat core.

There's been a lot hype around your source team being the "best in the world", do you think the hype has added pressure?

I think so, but the Americans still underrate us. None of them give us the credit they do to another North American team. I think we should have won versus venom.

You'll be facing the Carolina Core next, what do you think of their source team?

They have great individual skill, and I think it'll be a really tough match, but I think our play style suits theirs, we should win.

Core seem to be disliked by quite a few other teams/players in the CGS, is that a view you share?

I don't really know them well enough, so I can't really comment. Everyone does dislike them for some reason, maybe it's their GM, I'm not sure.

So far how has the whole CGS experience been for you?

It's been awesome, they treat you really well, the apartment is great and the pool is close!

Wez's face shows his disappointment with himself and the team after the game. Photo Max Silver - Cadred.org

You move from Counter-Strike 1.6 awhile ago now. Do you now consider yourself a source player?

I think so, I prefer the game now to 1.6, if I had to choose between the two I'd choose source. There's obviously a lot more money in Source now, which obviously increases your motivation to play it.

Would you want to keep your current roster for next season?

It's hard to say now but probably yes. It's hard to find anyone who could replace someone in our team, and it's not worth it.

How about Luke "KritikaL" Green?

[laughs] He's a taxi player for a reason!

With half a million dollars for the winners how much does it change the pressure?

It's pretty nerve racking, you just have to take every game like it's a normal tournament.

If it's not you winning the entire thing, who will it be?

OPTX, definitely, and I hope it is them.

You say OPTX, you may end up playing them in the final, what do you think of their Source team?

They had a shaky start to the season, getting beaten quite badly by some average teams, but got the job done when it mattered. We won't underestimate them for sure.

What did ODEE say to you after the game today?

He said relax for now and we'll talk about it later. We won the franchise game so we'll talk about it later but it's something we need to work out as a team.

GRT butts in, "how does it feel playing for a bad source team?"

Shut the f*** up!

And on that note I'll leave you with the closing; Salvo have probably learned more tonight than they would have with an 18-0 loss, I think they can bounce back from this with ease, and the game against Core should motivate them to greater heights. With the rest of their franchise looking strong if Source is fixed then we'll be seeing a potential British World Champion!