zonic: "We were scared. We played not to lose."

After Falcons closed out IEM Rio 2026 with a third-place win over FURIA, head coach Danny "zonic" Sørensen talked to us about the one thing that has started to define this roster's tournament runs, the mental gap between playing to win and playing not to lose. A day removed from a semifinal loss to Spirit that cost them a shot at the Grand Final, zonic was direct about what went wrong, what's recurring, and why the fix has to happen somewhere practice can't reach.

I spoke yesterday with NiKo and kyxsan yesterday, and they said that the biggest problem you guys have been facing, at least at the bigger events, is the mental side. I wanted to get your perspective as the coach, and hear how you've been working with the players to overcome that anxiety of being on the big stages.

My area is obviously the in-game stuff. I have responsibilities outside of the game as well, but I've tried to really work on the advantage situations, because in previous playoffs we lost a lot of 5-on-2s, clutches, and retakes that we just didn't do properly. I think we've managed to improve that. This time around, it might have been a little bit like the PARIVISION game we had in Cluj. We just have to play without taking the same fights, and that's something we have to talk about. It's not something we can practice from home, because it's about the pressure, the mental pressure. It's the same thing for me. We have to adapt and play.

I think we were scared yesterday. We didn't play to win. We were just playing not to lose. And against Spirit, who really wanted our revenge, and they were also playing well, credit to them, it's just tough. So right now what we can do is analyze the game, go back home, and have some talks about how we want to approach things. Maybe there's something in the preparation, or something on the day itself, that we can address differently next time. But it's something that's been recurring, just with different issues. Before, it was the discipline, us losing to full ecos and 5-on-2s and all of that. This time I just felt the players were too afraid, which shouldn't happen.

What do you think changed from yesterday to today? Because today you showed a very aggressive game, a different kind of play style that we all know Falcons can bring. What shifted?

Of course we had a talk. I talked a lot with them yesterday about the defeat and how we lost. But I don't want to give myself credit. The bigger factor is that this was our third-place decider. Even though we wanted to win it, of course, there's just not that much pressure compared to playing a semifinal or a final. So it kind of showcases that the pressure is something we still have to deal with.

One more before I let you go. You have very little time between now and PGL Astana. Are you getting any days off, or going straight to boot camp?

We were going to ask for a couple of days off here. But no, we're going straight back into the server and preparing.

Final Read: The Falcons Paradox

What makes this Falcons roster fascinating is that the talent is not the question. NiKo, m0NESY, TeSeS, kyxsan, and kyousuke on paper match any lineup on the planet. The match against Vitality proved it on the server, where Falcons snapped the world number one's match win streak in a best-of-three and booked their spot directly in the semifinals. It was the loudest moment of the tournament to that point.

Then the version of Falcons that took down Vitality did not show up against Spirit. zonic's answer tonight is the part most coaches would not say out loud. His players were scared. They stopped playing to win.

The evidence was in today's bronze match itself. Against the same Brazilian roster that had the crowd and the narrative momentum, with the pressure dialed down to a third-place decider, Falcons played the aggressive, front-foot style the entire scene knows they are capable of. Same players. Same coach. Different stakes, different team. That is the diagnosis zonic landed on, and it's the one that should worry Falcons fans more than any scoreline.