His head bowed and eyes filled with regret as he traced his steps forward.
Slowly, he covered his head with his Smart Omega jacket, attempting to conceal his emotions while walking through the alley en route to the press conference room.
Ron Matthew “Matt” Papag and the Smart Omega Neos had just been eliminated by ECHO in the semi-finals of the MDL Philippines Season 3.
In an exclusive interview with Tiebreaker Times, Matt revealed how shaken he felt by the loss, which he considered one of his toughest in recent memory.
“Malungkot lang ako kasi ‘di ko na-meet yung expectations ng family ko na pumunta live, ng family ko na nanonood online, pati yung audience at sa sarili ko rin. ‘Di ko na-meet yung expectations ko para sa sarili ko,” said Matt, who was teary-eyed as he left the stage after succumbing to ECHO via sweep.
“Parang ‘di pa nagsi-sink in sa utak ko ngayon na natalo kami. Siguro mamaya bigla lumabas lahat ng emosyon.”
The Laguna native stood by his teammates but remained particularly hard on himself.
“Tingin ko wala naman dapat regrets dun sa nangyari, kasi decision naman ng buong team yung mga ginawa namin sa game,” he said with absolute confidence.
“Ang regret ko lang is kung siguro naging mas malakas ako na jungler. I think medyo kulang pa yung laro ko. Kanina sa laro parang ‘di na kami gumamit ng utak, more on hype na lang yung nag-takeover sa’min.”
Matt also revealed that he had been confident they could overcome ECHO this time to reach the title match once again.
And that confidence shattered inside him after suffering a loss in a very close series that could have gone either way.
“Ngayon ko lang ulit naranasan yung talo sa playoffs na confident akong mananalo yung team ko. Ayan yung mas masakit eh, yung confident kang manalo pero natalo ka.”
