WANTED & UNWANTED » national championship hopes again,

The main event for the IEM Oakland Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament has begun. With FaZe Clan and Astralis having claimed their spots in the semifinals by virtue of finishing first in their respective groups, four teams were left to battle it out for the remaining semifinal spots. SK Gaming prevailed in a close 2-1 series over G2 Esports, while Ninjas in Pyjamas swept Immortals in a quick series.SK Gaming builds unstoppable momentumDespite claiming the series win overall, SK certainly got off to a slow start in its quarterfinals match against G2. The teams were on Nuke for the first game, and G2 showed that it wasnt messing around one bit. The European squad got out to a 10-5 lead at halftime before winning six of the final seven rounds to claim a 16-6 Game 1 win.But that trouncing in Game 1 paled in comparison to the performance that SK put together in Game 2 versus Train. The outcome was almost never in doubt, as SK took a 10-5 lead into the half and then shut out G2 in the second half for a 16-5 win. Gabriel FalleN Toledo led the way with a stellar 22/6 kills/deaths stat line and 104.8 average damage per round (ADR).Heading into the final game of the series, it felt like SK had gotten into a bit of a rhythm and was destined to have a big game on the third map, Dust 2. And thats exactly what happened. FalleN was once again head and shoulders above the pack, putting together a brilliant start to the match. He had 14 kills before he finally died for the first time in Round 12. SK went into the half up 12-3 and then won four straight rounds in the second half to take the series. The Brazilian team is humming and will look to continue its high level of play in Sundays semifinal match against Astralis.A lopsided win for Ninjas in PyjamasThe second series of the day was not nearly as exciting as the first. Before this event, Immortals had been playing extremely well of late, and were looking to make a deep run at IEM Oakland. The team was matched up against the old guard of Ninjas in Pyjamas, though, who showed the Brazilian squad whos boss. NiP proved that it doesnt matter what side or map its on, as it put together a dominant showing in a lopsided win.In each match of the series, NiP took a major lead into the half -- 11-4 during Game 1 and 12 -3 in Game 2 -- and never really let up. Game 1 was the closest, as Immortals did manage to grab nine wins in the 16-9 loss, but NiP absolutely closed the door on the series in Game 2, taking the map 16-4. Immortals will turn its attention back to the Esports Championship Series Season 2, where it is currently battling for a playoff spot. NiP will now move on to the semifinals to take on FaZe Clan.It all comes down to this. The final four teams have been set, with $125,000 of the $300,000 prize pool on the line at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California on Sunday. The day will start off with Astralis taking on SK before FaZe Clan will meet NiP. The winners of those matches will then head to the finals that evening to determine the victor. The action will kick off at 1:00 PM EST, and you wont want to miss this one. Air Jordan 11 Cheap Online . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. Cheap Jordan 11 Uk . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. http://www.cheapairjordan11uk.com/ . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Jordan 11 For Sale Cheap Real . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Air Jordan 11 Uk Sale . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. A look at Fridays NFL preseason matchups:BACK IN CINCYVikings coach Mike Zimmer returns to Cincinnati, where he made his reputation as a defensive coordinator before being hired in Minnesota in 2014. Last season, Zimmer led the Vikings to the NFC North title.It brings back a lot of good memories, Zimmer says. We had a good run. Mike Brown was really good to me and, obviously, Marvin (Lewis) and a lot of the players that I coached. Itll be fun. Itll be fun to bring my team in here, trying to compete with them.Zimmer notes how working for the Bengals prepared him for head coaching.I think (in) a lot of different ways, he says. I got a chance to see how Marvin does things, how he treats people, the way he earns respect. When I left Atlanta -- I was there for three-quarters of a year or whatever -- but, coming (to Cincinnati) and being able to resurrect my career a little bit. I think that helped a lot, (plus) being able to get some good players in here.NO CANCELLATION THIS TIMEGreen Bay was supposed to have already looked at rookies, undrafted players, fringe free agents and other players in last Sundays Hall of Fame game. Then the game was called off because of poor field conditions.Lambeau Field shouldnt have any such issues when the Browns visit the Packers. Indeed, the Packers wont be painting anything in preparation for Clevelands visit, or until they get the iconic stadium ready for the regular season.The Browns will be without at least three of their top four receivers when starting quarterback Robert Griffin III makes his unofficial debut with Cleveland. First-round pick Corey Coleman and veteran Andrew Hawkins will miss the game with hamstring injuries, while recently reinstated receiver Josh Gordon will sit out with an injured quad.Terrelle Pryor may also sit out with a calf injury suffered during practice Wednesday evening.SHOW ME SOME OFFENSENew Dolphins coach Adam Gase, an offensive mastermind, was more than a little disturbed by the ineptitude of his offense in last Saturdays scrimmage. Hes a bit more optimistic about Friday nights visit to the New York Giants after a few days of working on the problems.Yes. I feel light years better, Gase says. We needed to go through that. We needed to see what happens when just about everything possible could have gone wrong. Somebody screwed up on every play. It was like second-and-20 and then we were third-and-17. That probably needed to happen. I think guys just kind of took a step back and realized its about just doing my job and then things will work out. The more guys we have doing that, the bettter chance we have.ddddddddddddCARSONS CARDINALSFresh with a contract extension that should carry him through the rest of his career, 36-year-old QB Carson Palmer will handle about a dozen plays when Arizona hosts Oakland.Ive been playing my whole career, Palmer says, to be in a situation like this and play for an owner (Michael Bidwill) like this and a GM (Steve Keim) like this.Palmer led the Cardinals to the NFC title game, where he struggled in a rout at the hands of the Carolina. Naturally, hes looking ahead.Its a dream situation, Palmer says, having the opportunity to play for a head coach like Bruce (Arians), but also a play caller like Bruce. Michaels given everybody in the locker room everything you could possibly need to go out and just focus on football and play good football.SIT OR PLAYRaiders coach Jack Del Rio said hed like to play all his healthy players in the preseason opener at Arizona. Whether rookie safety Karl Joseph qualifies as healthy remains to be seen.Joseph has been practicing with the starters since the start of training camp but has gotten occasional time off as the team wants to make sure his surgically repaired right knee is completely healthy; it forced him to miss the end of his final college season at West Virginia. The Raiders were confident enough in Josephs health to draft him in the first round and have been pleased with his play in camp, including an end zone interception against Derek Carr in practice this week. But they see no need to rush him into game action.The goal is to be ready for Sundays, Joseph said. I definitely would like to get some preseason action. But its going to be a day-to-day thing to see how the knees feeling.MISMATCHDuring the Steelers scrimmages against the Lions this week heading toward the preseason game in Pittsburgh, All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown often had his way against Detroit cornerback Darius Slay.So much so that Brown couldnt help bragging about it.At one point during 7-on-7 drills, Brown yelled to the Steelers sideline: Im killing him. The leagues leading pass catcher in 2015 also told Slay hed be going deep all day, and then made good on the promise with a long TD catch.That matchup isnt likely to be seen Friday night because Brown, Ben Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell, the stalwarts of Pittsburghs offense, figure to sit it out. But even one play against Brown could be too much for Slay.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '