ly stopped improving since showing heaps

As the inaugural season of ELeague begins to wrap up, lets run down the semifinalists: mousesports, a team thats already made it further than ever before in a large tournament, and Virtus.pro, a team that won a 2014 major and whose players have won more premier tournaments in Counter-Strike dating back to 2006 than you can count on one hand.And yet, its still unclear which team is favored in the matchup.mousesportsDespite being a German team with three players from the organizations home country, mousesportss best player, Nikola NiKo Kovac, is Bosnian, and second-star Chris chrisJ de Jong hails from the Netherlands. As such, the team communicates in English, which is a clear hindrance for non-native speakers calling out information in split seconds, particularly for young players such as NiKo, who come from a country where people are not often strong English speakers.In a way, mousesports does not fit the traditional mold of a team; it is as if it has an identity crisis it cannot solve. It lacks the tactical and structured approach of Natus Vincere, having parted ways with long-time in-game leader Fatih gob b Dayik in the beginning of the year. But mouz is far from the superteam that Fnatic is. NiKo is arguably the worlds best player right now, but chrisJ would not come close to anyones top 20 list, and it only gets worse from there. The more you think about it, the more heroic NiKos performance becomes, or the more confused you get.When it comes to the map pool, mousesports is again in trouble. It can be amazing on dust2 and cache, but has losing records for 2016 on both cobblestone and overpass. On both train and mirage, it is passable -- but only that -- because its inconsistency costs it games on both often. Compare mousesports to its Polish opponent, who can play six maps well, and you only add to the list of things for fans to worry about on Friday.Yet, superstars often decide games in sports, and the same applies here. NiKo is the best player in the series, and if he can deliver in a fashion similar to how he did in the previous two series at ELeague, mousesports has a chance. Both chrisJ and Johannes nex Maget are inconsistent but capable of putting up good halves. Finally, the teams newly minted coach and in-game leader Aleksandar kassad Trifunovic can surely work his magic outside of the server. But really, this series will depend on NiKo. Which begs the question: how many series can a 19-year-old win on his own?Virtus.proThe Polish team that won the second CS:GO major in March 2014 has the oldest roster in the game and will soon pass three years without a player change. But whereas personnel-wise it has been eerily consistent, just about everything else about its game has been revamped multiple times. Janusz Snax Pogorzelski became the teams clear star player in 2014 over Jaros?aw pasha Jarzabkowski, who has all but disappeared. Three players have led the team, with ex-member Jakub kuben Gurczynski now helping as a coach.And while the AWPs keep changing hands, multiple players might at any time pick it up. Very few things are obvious about this team: Snax is the superstar who does what he wants; Filip NEO Kubski is, for all intents and purposes, a primary sniper, yet the aforementioned star sometimes picks up the AWP over him; Wiktor TaZ Wojtas has seen his individual play reinvigorate at the age of 30, but then there are issues. Pasha, who was the face of the team, has gone from a starring role in the worlds best conversation in early 2014 to a problem, with the high peaks no longer visible. Meanwhile, the teams youngest player, Pawe? byali Bielinski, has not only stopped improving since showing heaps of promise in 2014, but has gotten worse. Against all odds, it was NEO who was the teams best player in their quarterfinal victory over NiP.Virtus.pros current map pool is not very impressive. Its cache and train are inconsistent, dust2 unreliable with few games played, and despite playing the map, nuke has not worked out. The team is very good on both cobblestone and mirage, but will not get to play both of those in this series. In all likelihood, the map veto will end up, give or take, even. With a versatile team and ability to improvise well in-game, that should be fine for the Polish side; after all, its known for showing up in big games when it matters most, and has a chip on its collective shoulder from this months major, having been the only team to take a map off of champions SK.And with all that considered, most -- by a long shot -- still favor Virtus.pro. The peak of its powers remains a level few can match, and fans worldwide expect the team to summon something close to it, simply due to the way it left Cologne at the hands of SK, who will not be in Atlanta. If the Polish team can either play NiKo to a tie, or force him off his game, this could be a landslide. Still, the inconsistency is there, leaving the front door open for an upset loss and another disappointing semi-final exit. As it is too close to call on merits, I must side with the more experienced team: Virtus.pro. Cheap Custom Lightning Jersey . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Cheap Lightning Jerseys . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. http://www.customlightningjersey.com/ . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Custom Lightning Jersey China . LOUIS -- St. Vincent Lecavalier Jersey Large .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. What do you need to know about the weekends big stories? Joe McDonald gives us his take on the biggest and best. This is where we say Morning, Joe.Flyers scorching-hot: The Philadelphia Flyers have won nine consecutive games for the first time since 1995, impressively extending the streak with the past two wins on back-to-back nights. Brayden Schenn scored in overtime for a 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday after scoring a hat trick in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars. Schenn, who posted a career-high 26 goals and 33 assists for 59 points in 80 games last season, has taken another step forward this season. It helps that the Flyers have three players among the leagues top 15 in scoring with Jakub Voracek (11 goals, 21 assists, 32 points), Claude Giroux (9-20--29) and Wayne Simmonds (15-13--28). Voracek is having a bounce-back season and has 15 points in his past nine games to push him to a tie for second in league scoring. The Flyers showed grit and determination while earning a postseason berth last season but lost to the Washington Capitals in the first round. With their play lately, the Flyers are proving that was no fluke and are a playoff contender again.Laine is learning: The Winnipeg Jets Patrik Laine has enjoyed an impressive rookie season, with 17 goals in 31 games. Hes also learned that every once in a while youre going to have one of those nights when you want to crawl under the Zamboni. On Sunday, with the Jets and Edmonton Oilers tied at 2 in the third perriod, Laine inadvertently scored an own goal that led to a 3-2 loss.dddddddddddd The 18-year-old forward is a confident and emotional kid. He was obviously disappointed with the miscue, and you can bet hell quickly bounce back and continue his offensive prowess. At the other end of the ice, Oilers captain Connor McDavid earned his 26th assist of the season and now has a league-leading 38 points in 30 games.Wild bringing tighter D: The Minnesota Wild have won four consecutive games, and the majority of the focus has been on goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who is 6-0-2 in his past eight. Overall, he leads the league with a 1.66 goals-against average, a .946 save percentage and four shutouts. Coming off Sundays 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota is in third place in the Central Division. The new coaching staff has been inspirational for the Wild. Coach Bruce Boudreau has done a terrific job on his own, but his addition of former NHL defenseman Scott Stevens to run the defense has paid dividends. Early on, the Wild had no problem scoring goals, but keeping the puck out of their own net was a challenge. Its evident that Stevens message is being received because Minnesota has been sound as a five-man defensive unit, and it shows with Dubnyks performance. And, honestly, whos going to argue with Stevens, a former bone-crushing hitter? When he talks, you listen.? ' ' '