Pollo: “This team definitely has potential. I think it’s just a matter of experience”

Ghost Gaming were eliminated from ESL One Belo Horizonte on Wednesday, June 13, but they’re still hopeful and optimistic for their future.

The rising North Americans placed last in Group A, losing to FaZe Clan and SK Gaming in the process. Despite the crushing defeats, they’re not expecting exceptional results at the top of international CS:GO until they’ve ironed out their minor issues as a team, both individually and as a unit.

Related: SK and NTC struggle in day one of ESL One Belo Horizonte

Dot Esports sat down with Ghost’s Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik and Matt “Pollo” Wilson a day after their team was eliminated from ESL One Belo Horizonte.

Unfortunately you were eliminated from the event yesterday, what are the team’s plans on growing strong as a team and reaching the sort of level that NRG [Esports] are on? Anything short-term or long-term?

Subroza: Playing against these top teams, we knew that we have a lot to learn. So we already have a boot camp planned right after this tournament in [Los Angeles]. We’re definitely going to be working a lot harder and we know we have a lot to learn. And that’s pretty much it. We’re just gonna boot camp, work hard, go to more of these events, see if we can progress from here, and just watch the games and learn.

Pollo: I think especially in the short-term we’re gonna watch the games back and see where our mistakes were and where we failed, whether it was beginning of the round, mid-round, etc. We’ve only been a team for two weeks. [It’s] definitely not an excuse, but I think there’s tons of room to grow and look forward to the future.

Subroza, how were you feeling when the Torqued guys joined Ghost? Do you guys already know what you have to work on and what’s working right? What are your plans to become more stable as a team?

Subroza: Yeah, we’ve watched some of the games, not the full analysis of it, but we have an idea of what we need to fix. We already see the potential in this lineup. We know we can do it, so pretty much only some work left to do.

Pollo: So basically—going back on what Yassine said—I think this team definitely has potential. I think it’s just a matter of experience, playing together for long durations of time, getting used to each other, and being able to play off of each other much easier.

How long do you think it’ll take for you guys to get comfortable with each other as a team? Like knowing each other’s playstyles and such.

I think it could be fairly quick, but still give it maybe like a month or two. Just so we can get to more of these events. We have one, the ZOTAC Cup in LA. It’s a smaller one, but it’s still a pretty good experience. So maybe a couple months, maybe go to one or two more events, [and] see where the progress goes. If we need to fix anything else, we’ll go on with that.

Would you like to add a little bit more on the boot camp? Any plans?

Subroza: We’re gonna be in NA and we’re gonna be playing against the pro NA teams. We’re gonna be there for a little more than a week and then we have the ZOTAC Cup, so it’s gonna be a small boot camp, maybe 10 or 11 days.

Pollo: It’s gonna be a fairly small one, but it’s gonna be a building chemistry kinda thing.

Anything else you guys want to talk about, such as your elimination and how you’re feeling about Ghost as a team?

Subroza: I think, as a team right now, we’re still feeling confident, and it definitely was a learning experience coming into this tournament. Especially with the new roster, it’s hard to play against a couple of the best teams in the world. You have to be spotless as a team. If you don’t really have that preparation down, then you’re gonna get exposed, which is what happened to us. I think next time we come to a tournament of this level/tier, we’re definitely going to show up.

Bhernardo Viana contributed to this report.