Olander on the road - Part 1

Posted by: bsl

Article by David «Olander» Olander-Persson.

This is an article that reflects my thoughts of the world finals, our team performance and other things. It is basically like a big blog but I hope to add more details and a little more inside information.

So we went to Los Angeles...And played against the American teams, big deal?




No, actually it was as I thought it would be. The american teams play as we do, in some sense and it doesnt differ one bit when it comes to aim. That is something people should stop talking about, if you compare the aim of top players in USA and the aim of top players in Europe, you won’t find anyone that «sticks out». Everybody has great aim and there are lots of equally good players..

Finally, we got that out of the way, lets move on!




When we first got to LA the weather was great! We landed at LAX, the big airport in the middle of Los Angeles. The first step for us was to go through customs, and this, my friends, is not something to be taken lightly.

First we had to fill in two forms, one for Homeland Security and the other was for the US Boarder Patrol. This was like forms for temporary visas and you need them if you are not an American citizen. This was like information about what your name is, where you are supposed to live when you go to America and your passport number etc. All kinds of information about you and what you are going to do there.




The first step was to leave one of the forms at the US boarder patrol, they asked you questions about what you are supposed to do there and why and for how long.

I will confess this; I was really nervous. They can actually deny you from entering the country so you have to answer correct and not make any mistakes. For instance; I was told NOT to say that I was going to play in the CGS.

This officer at the desk took my fingerprints, took a picture of me and made a scan of my passport, so now they basically knew everything about me except my penis length. We all passed the first step and it was time to meet the really scary people over at the Homeland Security booth.

It was kind of fun because Jonas («bsl») was in front of me in the queue and since we would stay at the same place the lady from Homeland Security asked me if we knew each other. As I admitted to it being truth she looked at me in a strange way and said:

«- But he is from Norway, how is that possible?»

I was like; «SHIT, what should I say?» and just replied; «We met a long time ago and we just decided to go on a vacation together». Big, truthfull smile.

The lady looked at me again and asked:

«- Ok, so what do you do for a living?»

«- I’m a student», I replied with the God’s honest truth. The lady then asked me what I was studying and I fired back something about IT and computer technology. Bear in mind these questions, twenty or so, came fast and in succession at supersonic speed, just to see if she could trip me up. Luckily I passed everything fine.

I got my green card and could enter the US of A.




When we finally arrived at the appartements everybody gathered in the lobby. We got our room keys and left scans of our passports, again.

Me and the other four in the CSS team got a big appartement together and we went up to check out our home for the next three weeks. This was of course a really nice appartment with five beds in two different rooms and a big living room with a TV. It was perfect in every way and we had a kitchen too with every possible utensil.

When we got settled in we decided to down and buy some beers and relax since we did not have practice until the next day.




The days came and went as we did team workouts where all eleven, including GM «bsl», occupied the Oakwood gym for one hour. After that we normally went down to the practise rooms and either did a team game against someone or we just played individually in our games against another team.

Almost every day concluded with a team dinner, each night someone in the team got to select a place and we all went to eat together.

Our win at the European Championship meant we were already qualified for the quarter final so the only official game during the lead-up to the tournament was against London Mint’s CS:S team.

I will not say anything about it, suffice to quote Rakaka.se journalist «Ponderosa»:

«- London Mint CS:S is the best team in Europe after winning i32.»

So «Ponderosa», what say you now then?

A week after beating Mint 10-5 we got to play LA Complexity and we lost when we really should not have. We fell back too much after taking four rounds on the offensive side of de_inferno. Too bad we could not play two great halfs but better luck next time I guess. Matt «Warden» Dickens was humble after the game and nice enough to say to me;

«- You guys are really good.»

I’ll say the same thing back to them as they won that match. The next game is ours.




We had our first team game against Mexico City Furia, a CS:S team I did not know anything about. Did not matter much, I felt kind of unstoppable at that point and I knew we would beat them but not by how much. My pre-game contention was 11-7 or maybe 12-6.

On that game day everyone except our godlike FIFA player «Manyna» messed up and were handed the unthankful task of winning 13 to five to guarantee a win.

I have never seen «bsl» so sad before a game. He just said «- Come on, lets do this.» Still, you could really see that he thought it was over. Good thing we proved him wrong and even though Mexico were bad that night we played really well. If there is one thing we learned during this trip it is that you need to play agressively on the defensive side of de_inferno against American teams.

Oh, and «Redeye»: The next time you do the commentating you have to be on our ventrilo to tell us if we are close to beating a record. I think we could have done 15-3 in that match if we wanted to but «majk» bought an AWP and we did a stupid rush after winning.

It is officially «Redeye’s» fault that Berlin Allianz does not hold the CS:S scoring record!




Another fun thing from the Mexico match happened after it was over. I went outside to catch some fresh air and there were five Brazilian girls screaming «- We love you Olander!»

I didn’t really know what to say but at least I walked over to say some words of appreciation. I love all my fans but it was strange to have girls scream my name, it usually only happens when I’m at home. With my girlfriend.


Stay tuned to Berlin Allianz for the second part of «Olander's» World Final road-story.