A CS GO legend has come back as interim coach for FaZe
Legendary Counter Strike 1.6 and CS GO rifler NEO has been officially signed as the interim head coach for FaZe Clan’s CS GO squad until further notice, with the announcement coming via social media on July 27th.
NEO arrives at a FaZe team that is performing well enough but has slowly become inconsistent. FaZe’s previous coach Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström left the organization during the offseason back on July 13th, with him leaving to a different position outside of CS GO esports. NEO’s signing has been rumored for a while especially after a report by Dust2.us, nevertheless FaZe decided to confirm the pickup before their debut in 2023 IEM Cologne’s group stage.
This is not NEO’s first term under the FaZe brand. The former EMS One Katowice Major champion had a rather short playing stint with FaZe between May 2019 until September of the same year, at the time he was pushed into the in-game leader role.
It is a high task for NEO, as this will technically be his first stint as a head coach in Counter Strike esports. The Polish rifler played on stage his entire career between 2000 to 2022, and left the scene as one of the best mechanical CS 1.6 players of all time and is still regarded by many as a role model for “clutch” situations.
Many fell in the tough transition between CS 1.6 and CS GO esports, however, NEO thrived back in 2012 and even became what the community refers to as “innovator” of how the meta was created at the time.
Replacing RobbaN is not truly the goal for FaZe, as NEO has been placed amidst an extremely important tournament such as IEM Cologne. RobbaN’s accolades with FaZe were highly significant to set a foot in the esports scene including IEM Cologne in July of 2022 and ESL Pro League season 17 back in March of 2023. Lastly RobbaN was part of the squad’s preparation for the PGL Antwerp Major title in 2022 but sadly was not able to participate on stage celebrations due to Valve’s ban.
The true question by fans is: What will NEO bring to the table? The answer is rather simple, as a former player NEO should be able to bridge the synergy gap between the members in FaZe Clan.
FaZe’s in-game leader karrigan also took time to give his opinion on the signing within an interview with HLTV during the BLAST Premier Fall Groups event. He stated that RobbaN’s departure was surprising for him and that nobody can truly replace the Swedish head coach, as he is “unique” as stated by karrigan.
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