Juve returns as Into The Breach Head Coach

After less than 3 months since he announced his retirement, Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre returns in style to take the position of Head Coach of Into The Breach.

While it’s true that this is a common sight in the esports scene, we didn’t expect the Portuguese player to decide so quickly to return to the competitive Counter-Strike scene. Furthermore, this move also means that Martin “trace” Heldt is stepping down as the team’s coach immediately.

At the time, this move came as a surprise, and very much so, as Into The Breact showed a mind-blowing level of play in the first months of 2023. However, the Portuguese decided to step aside to think about himself and his family.

Into The Breach announces Juve’s return as Head Coach

Through a post on its official Twitter/X account, Into The Breach announced the return of the Portuguese, Juve, as the new Head Coach of the CS2 team.

We’d like to thank @traceCS2 for his help during a great period of instability for ITB CS:GO, and taking over from @Juve_csgo while he took personal leave.

His role was paramount in finding the stability we needed to move onwards and upwards, leaning on his vast experience to… pic.twitter.com/oDLM2CdHlb

— ITB SHUFFLE 🇺🇦 (@ITBesports) October 25, 2023

Juve was one of the fundamental pillars in Into The Breach’s extraordinary run in the Paris Major, where the team surprised everyone by reaching the playoffs and even up to the quarterfinals. In addition, the Portuguese know the players and the organization perfectly, as he has been the Head Coach of the team for the last 2 years.

After the excellent result in the Paris Major, Into The Breach, as it happened with other teams, lost Sebastian “volt” Maloș and Cai “CYPHER” Watson, as they decided to leave for other teams to continue their careers. However, the lowest point in ITB’s recent history was at the IEM Cologne 2023 Play-Ins, where they finished last.

Trace could not maintain ITB’s performance

After Juve’s departure, ITB signed Trace, former Head Coach of Astralis and its academy team. However, the team failed to perform consistently and solidly over the last 3 months, which led to the departure of Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar and Thomas “Thomas” Utting.

In the last few weeks, ITB has competed in many Tier 2 and 3 online tournaments, as they failed to qualify for the BLAST Premier: Fall European Showdown. Similarly, the team could not play its best game in these online events, failing in the recent CCTs.

Juve’s comeback may be complicated, as it is a completely different squad, and will have to adapt to the new additions. However, the experience and quality of this coach make us think that the team can take a good direction from now on.

Header: Into The Breach