"Our objective is to win Champions next year": Furia Esports' coach Carlao after Valorant Champions 2021 exit

On Day 5 of Valorant Champions, two South American sides - Furia Esports and KRU Esports - faced off in exciting fashion in an attempt to retain their spot in the tournament.

Furia outperformed KRU Esports on Fracture (13-11), which was picked by the latter as the first map of this Group B Eliminator matchup. An intense battle on Ascent (8-13), and the deciding showdown on Haven (9-13) confirmed Furia's exit from Valorant Champions Berlin 2021.

Amongst the three Brazilian teams to qualify for Valorant Champions 2021, Furia is the first to return home. However, the team performed beyond expectations in its opening fixture against Sentinels, and put up a respectable fight against KRU Esports.

In a conversation with Sportskeeda, Furia's coach, Carlao, opened up about the team's performance at Valorant Champions 2021.

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Furia Esports' coach Carlao discusses team's performance at Valorant Champions and further plans for the future

Furia Esports is a Brazilian team who qualified for Valorant Champions 2021 after winning the South American Last Chance Qualifiers in October.

A roster comprising of Matheus "mazin" Araujo, Khalil "Khalil" Schmidt, Augustin "Nozwerr" Ibarra, Alexandre "xand" Zizi, and Gabriel "qck" Lima, with Carlos "Carlao" Mohn at the helm as their coach represented Furia in the tournament.

During the post-match press conference, Furia's coach, Carlao, spoke with Sportskeeda about the team's performance at Valorant Champions and what plans are being made for future endeavors.

Q: This is the first major international tournament Furia has qualified for. How would you describe their performance at the Valorant Champions 2021?

Carlao: In my opinion, it was an amazing performance from the players. We have an ongoing project, which makes it a large process. This year was for us to get the experience we need. However, it didn't go the way I planned. I didn't want to lose today.

We have 2 players that are young and starting their careers this year. Our focus is to provide these players with the experience they need to bring out their potential. Overall, it was an amazing experience for a first major. We played on par with the best team in North America - Sentinels.

We played a good match today, but we made a lot of mistakes. If you ask me, I wanted to win the tournament. But for now, we have to think about our bigger plan, which is to improve our team for the future.

Q: Fracture is the newest map added to Valorant's competitive map pool. Furia had a really good match on Fracture today. How comfortable was the team with the map in training?

Carlao: We were prepared to play Fracture at Valorant Champions, but we were hiding our preference for the map. We were training on the map and we were good in practice. We were ready to pick Fracture when we had the chance.

We didn't perform our 100%, since it was the first time we played Fracture in an official match. It's a unique map, so we like it. We're good on the map and managed to find a win today as well.

Q: Furia has never played top teams from NA or Europe before coming to Valorant Champions. How did you prepare the team for such a challenge?

Carlao: We did a bootcamp in Serbia and Berlin. It was essential for us because we improved a lot by playing in Europe. I think the European region has more top-tier teams than any other region in Valorant.

Every time we practiced here, we faced different playstyles and learned different things. So, our bootcamp here was essential. We played mainly EU teams, but we played a few NA teams as well. It definitely made a difference in our performance.

Q: After going up 4-0 on Ascent, Furia conceded 10 consecutive rounds. In the previous match against Sentinels, Furia lost a 5-0 lead on the same map. With Ascent being your map pick against KRU, what do you think went wrong for Furia on the map?

Carlao: Ascent is one of our best maps and we had everything prepared going into the match. That's why we started so well on the map against both Sentinels and KRU. However, some things didn't go as planned for us on Ascent.

We lost focus in a few rounds initially, which ended up costing us multiple consecutive rounds. Even though we had everything prepared, we started losing focus when things didn't go according to our game-plan.

Q: Furia is one of the 3 Brazilian teams participating in Valorant Champions 2021. Another team from your region, Vivo Keyd, was involved in a Cypher-camera exploitation controversy recently after the match against Acend on Breeze. What are your thoughts on that matter?

Carlao: I think rules are meant to be followed. What makes me uncomfortable is that they finished the match and made the decision afterwards. I think the matter had to be reviewed immediately, and the decision should've been given during the match and not after.

When the team exploited the camera bug, they should have been punished immediately. It's not a good decision to let the team and their fans celebrate their victory and then have their decision overturned. So, my advice would be to make the decision during the match so that it's better for both the teams.

Q: Despite the group stage exit, Furia proved itself as a team worthy of recognition, here at Valorant Champions. What do you think the team learned from this tournament that can help it with success in 2022?

Carlao: I think we'll get really better in 2022. With all the experience that we've gathered this year, we will definitely be better next year. We're coming back here to the Champions and we'll be much better next time.

Our objective is to win the Champions tournament next year. Our process is step-by-step, so in 2022 we will improve a lot until we get to the level we need to be at to win the world championship.