Team Vitality rifler Shahar flameZ Shushan spoke about the issues during the group stage of IEM Cologne Major 2026. According to him, the team experienced pressure, which negatively affected their communication. The words of the esports player were quoted by the Telegram channel "TRUSY RAIZA".
Shahar flameZ ShushanI feel relieved after making it to the playoffs because the group stage is always dangerous. Our form was not the best in terms of communication. Maybe we were nervous or stressed a lot. We always have in mind: if someone beat us, we have to beat them back. NAVI and Falcons are two teams that beat us, and we didn't beat them back. And that's what we need.
In the group stage of the major, the French team lost to 9z Team with a score of 1:2, and also played all three maps in matches against FUT Esports and MOUZ. Despite the difficulties, in the decisive match Team Vitality defeated BetBoom Team with a score of 2:0 and secured their place in the playoffs.
