On the eve of the ESL One Cologne tournament, Joseph «faveN» Baumann, who plays for Sprout, gave an interview to HLTV in which he talked about how he and his teammates are preparing for the competition. Sprout earned a spot at ESL One Cologne back in May with a win over BIG in the ESL Meisterschaft Spring Grand Finals. The tournament they will now have to compete in will be the biggest for the team ever.
Joseph noted that the transition of all major tournaments to online has forced players to adjust their goals. Due to the format changes, the allocation of teams has changed and Sprout now automatically qualify for the main stage of the competition. faveN noted that as a result, they will have to deal with opponents that are significantly stronger than them. Therefore, they see their main task to show a good game and win at least one match. In addition, we have to take into account that in online tournaments randomness is more important than in the usual LAN games.
On the eve of the competition, the team held a week-long bootcamp, during which they practiced various techniques under the guidance of a coach. At the same time, faveN noted that they did not change the training in any drastic way, aiming to maintain the right psychological attitude. He believes the team deserves a higher position in the overall rankings and is well positioned to achieve it in the future.
