As the top performing team during Stage 3 group play, it is unsurprising that Team Spirit got off to a strong start during the eight-team playoff on Friday.

Team Falcons, on the other hand, had perhaps more success than expected as the fifth seed.

Both teams earned 2-1 victories in the quarterfinals Friday to advance to face one another in the next round on Saturday.

The Counter-Strike 2 tournament with 32 entrants competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool began June 2 with the start of the first stage.

The field was ultimately trimmed to the final eight playoff teams through a series of three stages, where all matches were best-of-three, as is most of the playoffs. Sunday’s grand final will be best-of-five, with the winner taking home $500,000.

Spirit, unblemished in Stage 3, picked up where they left off by handling G2 Esports. Despite absorbing a surprising 13-9 loss on Overpass to open, the Russian esports team showed resilience in rallying for a 16-14 overtime win on Dust II and a 25-22 quadruple-OT victory on Mirage.

As expected for such a closely contested match, multiple players racked up impressive kill numbers. Spirit’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets paced all players with 81 kills and a 1.32 rating, though teammate Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov added 75 kills against just 56 deaths.

G2 was paced by Matus “MATYS” Simko’s 71 kills and 1.19 rating.

The Falcons established an advantage over fourth-seeded Team Vitality with a 13-11 win on Anubis to begin play. When Vitality rallied to win 13-11 on Inferno in Game 2, Team Falcons responded with a 13-11 closeout victory on Dust II.

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led all scorers with 63 kills, while his Falcons teammate Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin (52 kills) had the match’s highest rating at 1.43.

Vitality was led by Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s 54 kills and 1.16 rating.

The semifinals will be contested on Saturday. Previous qualifiers FURIA and Aurora Gaming face off in the first match of the day before Spirit and Falcons match up later in the day.

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool

1. $500,000

2. $170,000

3-4. $80,000

5-8. $45,000 — BetBoom Team, 9z Team, Team Vitality, G2 Esports

9-11. $15,000 — Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, The MongolZ

12-14. $15,000 — MOUZ, Monte, Legacy

15-16. $15,000 — B8, PARIVISION

17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG

20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis

23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest

25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid

28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC

31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports

–Field Level Media

Paraguay’s road to the knockout rounds at the World Cup grew a little more difficult on Friday night.

In the third minute of first-half stoppage time during the La Albirroja’s match against Turkey in Santa Clara, Calif., Paraguay forward Miguel Almiron was sent off with a red card, putting his team a man down the remainder of the match.

With Paraguay up 1-0, Almiron covered his mouth while talking to Turkey defender Mert Muldur. That drew the red card based on one of FIFA’s new rules for this World Cup.

According to a FIFA press release: “At the discretion of the competition organizer, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card.”

The rule was put in place in an attempt to stem racist comments being directed by one player to another with the offending player covering his mouth so as to not get caught.

Almiron, who entered the match with disciplinary concerns as he drew a yellow card in the 4-1 loss to the United States in their World Cup opener on June 12, will now miss Paraguay’s final Group D match, against Australia in Santa Clara next Thursday.

Australia will be looking for a win after falling to the United States 2-0 earlier Friday. With the two wins, the U.S. have already booked a spot in the knockout round. Should Paraguay beat or draw with Turkey, the U.S. would clinch the group before playing Turkey next Thursday.

Almiron, 32, is in the second season of his second stint with MLS team Atlanta United. He scored six goals in 31 matches last season but has yet to score in eight matches in 2026. He previously played for Atlanta in 2017 and ’18 before spending seven seasons with Newcastle United of the Premier League.

–Field Level Media

Ranger Suarez allowed one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-2 Friday night.

Caleb Durbin went 3-for-4 with a double and homer for the Red Sox, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the ninth to thwart the shutout bid.

Suarez (3-3) retired the first 10 batters he faced before walking Cal Raleigh with one out in the fourth inning. The lefty set down eight more in a row before walking Raleigh leading off the seventh.

After center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela made a sliding catch on a ball hit by Rodriguez, Josh Naylor ended the no-hit effort with a double to right-center, sending Raleigh to third. Dominic Canzone hit a grounder that rolled up Suarez’s arm and hit him in the chin before the pitcher recovered to get the out at first. Suarez walked Cole Young on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and end his night.

Reliever Justin Slaten struck out pinch hitter J.P. Crawford to get out of the jam.

Suarez walked three and struck out five.

Durbin homered to left field with two outs in the second off Mariners starter Bryce Miller (3-1).

It remained 1-0 until the seventh, when the Red Sox scored four times off Luis Castillo, who was piggybacking with Miller.

Rafaela led off with a double to right-center field and advanced to third on Wilyer Abreu’s lineout to center. A wild pitch allowed Rafaela to score. The Red Sox loaded the bases on groundball singles by Willson Contreras, Jarren Duran and Durbin. Marcelo Mayer hit a sharp grounder to right to score a pair of runs and Carlos Narvaez added a sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-0.

The Red Sox added a run in the ninth as Durbin and Mayer hit back-to-back doubles with two outs.

Miller went five innings and allowed one run on three hits. The right-hander walked one and struck out seven. Castillo pitched the final four innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits, with no walks and four strikeouts.

–Field Level Media