This Tuesday,
FUT Esports secured their spot in the Main Event of the 2026
Rocket League World Championship. The Turkish team, which competes in the North American scene, unsurprisingly fell in their opening Play-In match against
one of the leading contenders for the title, Team Falcons. However, FUT bounced back in the Lower Bracket, winning both of their matches against TSM and Mate y Tapa’s mix, thereby paving the way for the next stage of the competition.
Named Comeback Player of the Year by the leading First Touch podcast just a few days ago,
Justin "jstn." Morales spoke to Sheep Esports for a few minutes following his team’s qualification. The American veteran reflects on the nomination, as well as his team’s run to the World Championship and the role played by his coach, Adam "adam_baguette" Alexandre.
How does it feel to be awarded Comeback Player of the Year this year for the First Touch Awards?
Justin "jstn." Morales: “Honestly, it feels good. I didn't think I was going to be brought up for these awards. I'm trying to think of the word, but I can't right now. But, you know, I mean, I'll take it. From a horrible three years of just not doing anything to making LANs last season, which I kind of feel wasn't truly making it because I joined a team that already had pre-existing points, so we could make the events quicker. This year felt a lot different. Obviously, we started with zero, and now we're here after a long journey. So it feels great. I'm glad to be back on LAN. I'm glad to be competing with the best. I still feel good, even though I'm old — I'm 24. Yeah, I'm very happy about it.
How do you feel about being a senior player in the game? How do you feel the game differently compared to when you first started your career?
jstn.: I feel everything differently. The game itself has developed so much. The community itself has developed. Just relationships with people in general have developed over time. I don't know. I'm considered in the retirement home nowadays, but I can still keep up with the youngins. I'm the original prodigy, so I got a lot into me still.
You actually have tied your former teammate Jayson "Fireburner" Nunez for seven World Championship appearances at this point in your career…
jstn.: That is pretty awesome.
You had to participate in the Paris Major and then the NA LCQ. How does it feel running through that?
jstn.: When we first formed the team, we knew that most likely we would have to go to the LCQ. So we were kind of just setting up for that and playing to play and see what happens. It was definitely stressful, for sure, because, again, it's one team, and you have those other teams that aren't in the top four that could sneak a win on you. So it could be just completely random. But we did the right preparation. We played as much as we possibly could, did everything — replays and everything. And we just went in confident, and it felt really good. Super happy to be here.
Adam Baguette seems like a really vocal coach…
jstn.: He’s pretty vocal, yeah.
How does he try to influence things mid-series for you guys?
jstn.: He brings up a lot of stuff, actually. That's great. Again, having coaches in general, you have that third-person perspective that a lot of the time you don't see. So he's given us stuff that we're not bringing up, which is great. When we're down, he's hype. So he gets us hyped. He's basically the perfect human — the perfect coach. So he's doing it all.”
