Donk: Hally Should Not Be Underrated as Coach

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets defended coach Sergey “hally” Shavaev after Team Spirit survived elimination at the Esports World Cup. Spirit recovered from a map deficit and erased a 5-10 hole on Dust2 to stay alive and win the best-of-three against BIG.

Spirit lost the opening map, Cache, where the team managed only two defensive rounds. Donk said BIG were better prepared on that map and that Spirit “deserved to lose” the series. On Dust2, Spirit fell behind after losing two pistol rounds; a 1v3 by BIG’s gr1ks and a subsequent quadra in a T-side pistol sequence left Spirit trailing 5-10 before their comeback.

Earlier in the tournament Spirit lost a best-of-one to JiJieHao and advanced past Luminosity only after overtime, leaving the squad’s results uneven heading into the knockout stage.

Donk acknowledged the team’s ongoing problems and said they are working on solutions that will take time. “We have some issues that you cannot fix in one day or two days. We need some time to fix it, and I think we’ll fix them before playoffs,” he added.

He pushed back on criticism aimed at Sergey Shavaev since the coach returned to the lineup, noting that public opinion shifts with wins and losses. Donk defended Hally’s record, pointing out the staff helped the team reach a Major semi-final and quarter-final before recent roster changes and calling him “a solid coach.”

Donk also praised gr1ks after a postmatch handshake, saying he respects the player’s development and expects a strong career trajectory.

Spirit’s immediate focus is correcting tactical and round-level errors, particularly the pistol-round losses that proved costly on Dust2, as the team prepares for the playoffs. Donk said the squad prefers to address longer-term problems internally rather than discuss them publicly to avoid giving opponents an advantage.