sidde: “This is not the real FURIA” as team weigh two paths to replace FalleN

FURIA left the Esports World Cup with a fourth-place finish, but Sid "sidde" Macedo's concern was less about the position on the leaderboard than the way his team let its final two series slip.

The Brazilian side reached the semi-finals before falling 2-1 to FUT, then lost another three-map series to Legacy in the third-place decider. For sidde, both defeats exposed the same problem: FURIA were rushing situations that previously would have been handled with considerably more control.

That short-term issue arrives alongside a much bigger question. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo will retire from professional play at the end of 2026, and FURIA are already experimenting with how their leadership structure might work without him. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis is currently calling on Ancient, Anubis and Cache, while the organization considers two different approaches to its eventual roster change.

Quick Context

Detail	Information
Coach	Sid "sidde" Macedo
Team	FURIA
Current roster	FalleN, yuurih, YEKINDAR, KSCERATO, molodoy
Event	Esports World Cup 2026
Result	4th place
Semi-final	FURIA 1-2 FUT
Third-place match	FURIA 1-2 Legacy
Current HLTV ranking	No. 3
Next event	BLAST Open Porto 2026
Opening opponent	paiN
Main storyline	FURIA's form, YEKINDAR's expanded calling duties and the search for FalleN's replacement

FURIA remain third in HLTV's world ranking and fifth in Valve's ranking following the Esports World Cup. Their five-man lineup continues to feature FalleN, Yuri "yuurih" Santos, YEKINDAR, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and Danil "molodoy" Golubenko.

A fourth-place finish that felt worse than it looked

On paper, FURIA's EWC campaign represented a recovery from their early BLAST Bounty Season 2 exit, where DENDELE eliminated them 2-1 in July. In Riyadh, FURIA progressed through Wildcard and 9z before beating Aurora and G2 on their way to the semi-finals.

The G2 victory was particularly convincing outside the middle map. FURIA won Ancient 13-3 and Dust2 13-4, with a 13-3 Anubis loss separating the two dominant maps.

Against FUT, however, the margins turned against them.

FURIA lost Ancient 11-13, responded with a comfortable 13-6 victory on Nuke and then went to overtime on Dust2, where FUT eventually closed the decider 16-13. The frustration inside FURIA came from the opportunities they had to finish the series before overtime became necessary.

sidde highlighted a late 5v3 advantage as one of the moments FURIA should have converted. His overall verdict captured the contradiction of their tournament.

“Rationally, my assessment is positive; emotionally, it's really bad.”

That distinction makes sense when set against FURIA's recent results. Reaching another top four is hardly a collapse, but this is no longer a roster that measures progress simply by making deep playoff runs.

FURIA won four trophies during their surge in the second half of 2025 — FISSURE Playground 2, the Thunderpick World Championship, IEM Chengdu and BLAST Rivals Season 2. In 2026 they have remained near the top, finishing second at IEM Kraków and, more significantly, reaching the IEM Cologne Major final, but they have yet to turn those runs into another championship.

For a team with that recent ceiling, fourth place can be respectable without being satisfying.

FURIA's bigger concern was how the rounds were lost

sidde's criticism was focused on decision-making rather than effort.

After reviewing the FUT series, he felt FURIA repeatedly accelerated rounds when the situation demanded patience. Advantages that should have allowed the team to slow the game down instead became rushed sequences, and the coordination that had previously made FURIA difficult to break in late-round situations was missing.

The same problems then appeared against Legacy.

FURIA won Legacy's Ancient pick 13-9 but could not finish the series, losing Nuke and Dust2 by identical 9-13 scores. sidde rejected the idea that the unpopular third-place format was responsible, pointing instead to a continuation of the issues from the previous day.

That distinction is important. FURIA's EWC problem was not simply that FUT produced an upset or that motivation disappeared once the final was gone. From the coach's perspective, the warning sign was a temporary breakdown in the team's shared reading of advantageous situations.

With BLAST Open Porto beginning almost immediately afterwards, that leaves little practice time. sidde, however, believes the necessary corrections are more about communication and agreement inside the team than rebuilding its tactical playbook from scratch.

YEKINDAR is already taking part of FalleN's IGL workload

The most consequential part of sidde's interview concerned FURIA's leadership structure.

YEKINDAR is now the primary caller on Ancient, Anubis and Cache. According to sidde, the arrangement grew naturally from the Latvian's existing responsibilities: he was already heavily involved in the team's strategic work, regularly acted as a secondary voice, and handled many of the CT-side decisions created by his positions.

The change also reduces FalleN's calling burden on maps where FURIA believe YEKINDAR is better positioned to control the game.

It should not yet be read as confirmation that YEKINDAR will become FURIA's permanent IGL. Instead, it gives the organization a live test of one possible post-FalleN structure before a decision has to be made.

And that decision is approaching.

FalleN announced in April that 2026 would be his final year as a professional player. The Brazilian legend will end a playing career spanning more than two decades, leaving FURIA without both a starting rifler/secondary AWPer and, more importantly, the captain around whom the current system has been built.

Two routes to replacing FalleN

sidde confirmed that FURIA are considering two fundamentally different profiles for the eventual vacancy.

The straightforward route would be to sign another in-game leader. That would allow YEKINDAR to remain close to his current role while the newcomer takes over the main calling responsibility from FalleN.

The alternative is more interesting: FURIA could recruit the best available non-IGL for the five-man lineup and move YEKINDAR into the captaincy full-time.

There is no preferred solution yet.

That makes the coming months particularly useful for FURIA. Every map YEKINDAR calls gives the staff more information about whether building around him as an IGL is realistic. If it works, the organization can approach the transfer market without restricting itself to the relatively small pool of established captains. If it does not, finding FalleN's leadership replacement becomes the priority.

Either way, replacing FalleN is not a conventional one-for-one roster move. FURIA have to account for his voice, experience and influence on the system as much as the individual positions he occupies.

sidde plays down uncertainty around the rest of FURIA

Questions around FURIA have not been limited to FalleN, with outside speculation also surrounding other members of the roster.

sidde did not give those stories additional weight. His position was that FalleN's retirement is the only confirmed change FURIA currently have to prepare for, and that the team's job is to keep producing results strong enough that its players continue to see the project as capable of competing for the biggest trophies.

That is a relevant point after FURIA's last 12 months.

The additions of YEKINDAR and molodoy transformed the team's results in 2025. molodoy rapidly became one of the outstanding young AWPers in the game, while YEKINDAR added another aggressive voice and experienced international player to the Brazilian core. The resulting lineup won four notable titles before ending the year in the StarLadder Budapest Major quarter-finals.

FURIA have not maintained that trophy rate in 2026, but their IEM Cologne Major runner-up finish and EWC top four mean the team remains firmly inside the elite competitive tier.

The more immediate challenge is turning those placements back into trophies before FalleN's farewell season ends.

BLAST Porto provides an immediate response test

FURIA will not have long to dwell on Riyadh.

BLAST Open Porto runs from August 26 to September 6 with 16 teams and a $1.1 million prize pool, with the group stage leading into the playoff portion in Porto. FURIA open their campaign against paiN on August 26.

sidde has set a clear minimum target:

“We want to reach the playoffs at least.”

More important to the coach, though, is seeing the team correct what happened against FUT and Legacy.

That makes the paiN series useful for reasons beyond simple qualification. FURIA need to show that their late-round communication has recovered, while the maps led by YEKINDAR will offer another look at a leadership experiment that could eventually define the team's 2027 roster.

FURIA vs paiN: recent head-to-head

FURIA and paiN have recent history, although it comes with an important caveat.

They met twice at BLAST Rivals Season 2 in November 2025. FURIA won the group-stage encounter 2-1 after dropping Nuke, then defeated paiN 2-0 in the semi-finals three days later.

Those matches are not especially predictive for Porto because paiN have since undergone substantial roster changes. The November lineup featured biguzera, dgt, nqz, snow and dav1deuS; paiN now field biguzera, snow, vsm, piriajr and saffee. Only biguzera and snow remain from that five.

Current form and map preparation therefore matter considerably more than the 2025 scorelines.

paiN enter Porto ranked No. 18 by HLTV after finishing 17th-24th at the Esports World Cup. They beat Wildcard during their EWC run before being eliminated 2-0 by The MongolZ.

Interesting Facts

• FalleN announced on April 17 that he will retire from professional competition at the end of 2026.
• YEKINDAR is currently calling for FURIA on Ancient, Anubis and Cache.
• FURIA won four notable events in the second half of 2025: FISSURE Playground 2, Thunderpick World Championship, IEM Chengdu and BLAST Rivals Season 2.
• Their best result of 2026 so far is second place at the IEM Cologne Major, where Falcons beat FURIA 3-0 in the final.
• FURIA's EWC run ended with consecutive 1-2 defeats to FUT and Legacy after they had reached the semi-finals.
• BLAST Open Porto begins on August 26, with FURIA facing fellow Brazilian side paiN in their opening series.

What Comes Next?

FURIA's immediate focus shifts to paiN and BLAST Open Porto, but the tournament also starts another phase of a longer evaluation.

The coaching staff needs to restore the composure that disappeared in crucial moments at EWC. At the same time, every event between now and the end of the year provides information about the shape FURIA should take after FalleN retires.

If YEKINDAR proves capable of taking full control of the calling structure, FURIA's replacement search becomes far more flexible. If the team ultimately decides he is more valuable without that additional responsibility, then securing a new captain will be the defining move of their offseason.

For now, neither path has been chosen. Porto is simply the next test.

FAQ

Who is sidde?

Sid "sidde" Macedo is the head coach of FURIA's Counter-Strike 2 team. FURIA are currently ranked No. 3 in the HLTV world ranking.

What did sidde say about FURIA's EWC 2026 performance?

He viewed the fourth-place result as acceptable in isolation but was concerned by FURIA's communication, chemistry and decision-making in advantageous rounds during the losses to FUT and Legacy.

Is YEKINDAR now FURIA's IGL?

YEKINDAR currently leads on Ancient, Anubis and Cache, but FURIA have not confirmed him as their permanent full-time IGL. The team is still evaluating its options for 2027.

Who will replace FalleN in FURIA?

No replacement has been confirmed. FURIA are considering either signing another captain or recruiting a non-IGL and moving YEKINDAR into the leadership role.

Who do FURIA play next?

FURIA will face paiN in their opening match at BLAST Open Porto on August 26, 2026.