Coaches come in many forms; stoic, eccentric, apathetic, the list goes on, but one thing that a lot of them bring to the table is mountains of experience due to being around for so long. In the case of Into the Breach that couldn’t be further from the truth. 20-year-old Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre has been at the helm since 2021 and regardless of his youth, has helped them reach incredible heights.
The Portuguese coaches’ most recent achievement was guiding his team to an upset victory over Virtus.Pro as the BLAST.tv Paris RMR. After the win he spoke to UKCSGO’s Dafydd Gwynn about his experience with the previous Into the Breach rosters, helping Thomas in his new role as IGL, and how they were able to stop Virtus.Pro from mounting a successful comeback against them.
When you originally joined Into the Breach all the way back in 2021 did you ever imagine you would be at an RMR beating Virtus.Pro?
I’m going to be honest, no. Because when I joined ITB they were playing ESEA Advanced and we were playing some tier three tournaments, CCTs etc, so I wasn’t expecting us to achieve what we achieved.
When you look back to where you were to where you are now, explain the journey that got you here?
The journey with ITB had a lot of ups-and-downs to be honest. We tried three different lineups in the past and somehow at the end they just didn’t work because of either toxicity or not a good environment or people were just not on the same page. So at the end of last year we just changed the whole lineup, we only picked up Cai (CYPHER) from the previous lineup and me and Thomas built a lineup around him and Cai.
Looking back at that game, you had a massive lead against VP and then they start coming back. As a coach what do you say to your players to try and stop the comeback?
The people looking at the cameras they would see that I was fist-pumping when we win a round, but my face was closed. I know with a team like Virtus.Pro the job is not done until you get 16. It’s going to get rough at any time. Simple as that. Yes we can be shooting, we can be winning some rounds and clutches, but at a certain point they will start playing and it’s really scary. We have to be really careful with it. I said to the players on the 10-5: “job’s not done yet, we have got 10-5, but focus the game is not over. Focus on that shit because it’s going to get rough if we lose one, two or three rounds.”
I know with a team like Virtus.Pro the job is not done until you get 16 [rounds]
As a coach at the RMR where you can’t speak to your players do you ever feel helpless?
Yeah. I would say so because me as a coach I do prepare the games, it’s up to me to prepare the games. Thomas helps me a little bit, rallen helps a lot too, so it’s up to us three but mostly me. So when I’m watching them when the game is going on I know what they are doing from some smoke or some flash or positions, but I’m not allowed to speak so it’s really rough sometimes seeing a player doing a play that I know is not going to work because I know what’s going on on the map. I hope they change the rules at the RMR, at least for me to touch the players or shout. Just give us that. Just that to the coaches.
When you get to the end of that map and you are finally allowed to speak to your players and scream, what’s the first thing that’s on your mind?
I just wanted to scream, that’s all. I don’t what, I don’t know how, I just wanted to scream and hug my players because they fucking deserve it. We made the RMR on three weeks, we still have a lot of flaws. We did not win two best-of-ones because we are the best team in the world, I keep saying this every time to them. It’s not because we win against a good team that we cannot lose against a shit team the next team. We are not the best team in the world now and we were not the shittiest team when we lost. Simple as that. We need to keep the focus one game at a time and that’s it.
We are not the best team in the world now and we were not the shittiest team when we lost. Simple as that.
Moving on to you, you are very young for a coach, do you ever struggle in your roles due to that fact?
I had problems with it, yes, with some players that have a certain ego. It’s always going to be hard because I am not old, my person is young. So they will look at me and think “what is this guy going to say to me, I have already passed through this, I know what to do.” So sometimes it’s hard to be a young coach, but what I like from this team is the fucking environment. There is no raging, there is no shouting at each other, and when there are problems I can literally talk to them and everything will get solved. They listen to me, they respect me so I am really thankful for that.
What would you say the biggest difference is between working with Thomas as an IGL versus working with Adam9130?
Adam9130 is way more experienced than Thomas is in the IGL role, period, simple as that. But the environment of the previous teams, as I told you, were not helping him as well and as I said we wanted to make a full change on the team. We made a full change on the team, we picked up Thomas, who is not an IGL, but we are improving that, I am helping him and we are working together. rallen is also helping. Basically it’s up to us three to be communicating with each other. rallen even sometimes calls mid-round, so he’s a second voice despite people thinking that he’s the quietest person on the team, he’s not. We are improving, we are not playing our best CS, we still have a lot of flaws on some maps, but it will take time.
Have you been impressed with how quickly Thomas has come into his role?
I mean the results speak for themselves. I think the results speak for themselves. The hardest part is not to [get to] the RMR the hardest part is to keep playing these tournaments. We can come here get 0-3 and never play this again, so the hardest part is to come here show we are good and get more invites, more qualifiers, and keep qualifying for these kind of tournaments; that’s the hardest part.
The hardest part is not to [get to] the RMR the hardest part is to keep playing these tournaments.
Would you say that your display shows just how close the gap between tier one and tier three or whatever tier that you consider yourselves in is right now?
Look at B8, look at us. We are winning games or at least getting close games like our game against NAVI. That we could have lost 16-5 we won a force on the 12-4, we could have been destroyed, but still we won the force and took the advantage from it. We tier three teams when we get this chance in the bo1 we want to prove ourselves more than them I think. They are used to this, there is nothing new about this for them, [tier one teams], but we are one win away from the Major so for us we are hungry as ever.
Being around the best coaches in the world, how crazy does that feel for you?
I am 20, I am going to be 21 this year, I’ve been a coach for four years, but only two or three years professionally. I grew up watching them on Twitch so for me my eyes just shine. I’m going to be honest. It’s not fanboying because I am beside them, I am competing with them, for me it’s an achievement.
Are there any comments you want to add?
I want to thank the Portuguese community 100% because these last few days they have been supporting me a lot, a lot of messages. So I want to thank them. I want to thank ITB for trusting in me for one more year, because they could just send me off. They trusted in me and my work, they wanted me hear and I just trusted my team. Let’s fucking do it and make the Major.
