Since their successful run to the playoffs of the Paris Major, Into the Breach has been struggling to find consistency amid a host of roster changes. Once again the team has made a switch, this time with their coach.
Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre stepped down from the ITB squad at the beginning of August due to personal reasons. The very next day, Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar was removed due to “comments and perspectives displayed which do not align with [their] attitudes regarding inclusivity and equality” shortly after joining the team, throwing ITB into pandemonium.
Unfortunately, this chaos will continue with ITB with them changing IGLs, replacing Thomas “Thomas” Utting with major winner Alexey “Qikert” Golubev, after Thomas moved himself to the bench, and Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier replacing NEOFRAG. Just as many thought their roster was stabilised, they make yet another change.
After a short stint on the bench, Juve will return to the main roster. He replaces Martin “trace” Heldt, who has only been with the team a short amount of time. UKCSGO understands that Juve has been back coaching the team for a while, a fact made clear when he was seen at the team’s recent bootcamp in Poland instead of the Dane… not that he was subtle about it.
Bootcamp ✌🏻 https://t.co/M6Vj1aUf91
— Juve (@Juve_csgo) October 6, 2023
It is currently unknown what happened with trace, as it seemed they only had him on the roster for an incredibly short time. The tweet featuring an image of Juve at the bootcamp, posted by team manager Neil “NeiL_M” Murphy, went up on October 6th, just over two months since the Portuguese coach sent himself to the bench.
At 20 years old, Juve is the youngest coach ever at a Major. Now, back after his personal break, he will be looking to recreate his previous accomplishments with the organisation. The team, which peaked at #21 on the HLTV rankings with this core, has undergone a small break from matches recently. They have only played two games on HLTV in the last month, beating ALTERNATE aTTaX, and losing to Spirit.
Photo of Juve from the Paris Major
UKCSGO reached out to Owner Sam Macedonio on the decision:
“We’d like to thank trace for his help during a great period of instability for ITB CS:GO, and taking over from Juve while he took personal leave. His role was paramount in finding the stability we needed to move onwards and upwards, leaning on his vast experience to guide our roster as it developed. With Thomas taking a step back but Juve since returning, trace and ITB have mutually decided that he will step away for other opportunities. Juve will now return to the Head Coach role.
We’d like to thank trace for coming in on such short notice, having the impact he did, and paving the way for our future successes in CS2”.
Into the Breach will finish off the year as:
Karol “rallen” Rodowicz
Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel
Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras
Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
Alexey “Qikert” Golubev
Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre (coach)
Thomas “Thomas” Utting (Benched)
We'd like to thank @traceCS2 for his help during a great period of instability for ITB CS:GO, and taking over from @Juve_csgo while he took personal leave.
His role was paramount in finding the stability we needed to move onwards and upwards, leaning on his vast experience to… pic.twitter.com/oDLM2CdHlb
— ITB SHUFFLE 🇺🇦 (@ITBesports) October 25, 2023
