Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is down to the final months of his playing career, and FURIA’s quarter-final exit from FISSURE Playground 3 has brought that countdown into sharper focus. After losing 0-2 to G2 in Suzhou, the 35-year-old said he is trying to put the emotions of his approaching retirement aside and concentrate on helping FURIA return to title-winning form.
FURIA had a real opportunity to take control of the series on Ancient. They led 11-7 before G2 recovered to win the map 16-14, then had far fewer answers on Dust2 as G2 closed FURIA’s own pick 13-3. FalleN told HLTV that losing Ancient left his team with little room to recover once G2 took over the second map.
FalleN Says FURIA Still Need to Find Their Synergy
FURIA’s run in China was uneven beyond the G2 series. The Brazilian side also lost to Legacy earlier in the tournament, another opponent FalleN said has been playing strong Counter-Strike and giving FURIA lessons to take into future meetings.
For FalleN, the wider problem is consistency. Some matches leave him feeling FURIA are close to competing for trophies, while others expose rounds where the team misreads situations or fails to play them optimally.
“There are times when I feel we’re not too far away from winning tournaments, but there are also times when it feels like we’re actually very far away,” FalleN told HLTV.
He pointed to synergy as the missing piece. FURIA need to reach a level where those situations are read correctly often enough to challenge for titles, something the team is still working to rediscover.
The schedule has not made that process easier. FURIA have travelled from Paris to Porto and then to China, and FalleN acknowledged that competing in events so far apart every week is difficult. He stopped short of blaming the travel for FURIA’s performance, however, saying the team considered FISSURE Playground 3 an important event to attend.
The Final Tournaments Are Starting to Feel Different
FalleN has already confirmed that he will retire at the end of 2026, leaving only a small number of tournaments before one of Counter-Strike’s longest careers as an active player comes to a close.
That has changed the way he experiences events, even if his responsibilities inside FURIA remain the same. FalleN said his teammates still rely on him to put in the work, so he is trying not to let the emotions surrounding his retirement interfere with the team’s preparation.
“I know it’s coming to an end, and I want to make the most of it and do the best I can,” FalleN told HLTV.
His reaction after the G2 loss followed the same line. In a separate post on X, FalleN said FURIA had wanted to go further while defending their FISSURE Playground title, but now needed to learn from the mistakes and return stronger for their next challenges.
FURIA Head Straight to StarSeries Season 20
The quarter-final finish is a sharp contrast with FURIA’s previous FISSURE Playground appearance. The team won FISSURE Playground 2 in September 2025 with a 3-2 Grand Final victory over The MongolZ, beginning a run that also included titles at IEM Chengdu 2025 and BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 2.
There will not be much time to dwell on the failed title defence. FURIA are due in Barcelona for StarLadder StarSeries Season 20 from 17 to 20 September, an eight-team event with a $500,000 prize pool.
FURIA will open the double-elimination tournament against MIBR. For FalleN and his teammates, it is an immediate chance to put the lessons from Suzhou into practice as the veteran moves another tournament closer to the end of his playing career.
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