MOSCOW -- Stanislav Cherchesov is the new coach of Russia ahead of its home World Cup in 2018, after a disastrous performance in the European Championship ended predecessor Leonid Slutskys tenure.The Russian Football Union announced the appointment Thursday. Board member Igor Lebedev told the state Tass news agency that Cherchesov was under contract until August 2018 and had been given a target of reaching the World Cup semifinals.Cherchesov said he wasnt overawed by the demands of a home World Cup, or rectifying the failures of the European campaign.Hand on heart, Im not worried, he said in comments reported by R-Sport. Its obvious the result wasnt the one we wanted and it needs to be sorted out. One person on his own cant do that; it has to be done by everyone. Though one person can mess it all up.A former Soviet Union and Russia goalkeeper, Cherchesov coached Legia Warsaw to the Polish league and cup double last season, but has not won a trophy in Russia despite coaching there for most of the last decade.Slutsky resigned in June when Russia went out of Euro 2016 following a draw with England and defeats to Wales and Slovakia. Since then, the team has been depleted after midfielder Roman Shirokov retired, while defensive stalwart Sergei Ignashevich has signaled he wants to retire from international football to make way for younger players.Cherchesov said Thursday he wanted to make the team more open and accountable. That follows a series of scandals in Russian media over players behavior before and after the exit from Euro 2016. Forward Alexander Kokorin and midfielder Pavel Mamaev faced public anger and were briefly dropped to the reserves by their clubs as punishment after video emerged of them partying with dozens of bottles of champagne at an exclusive nightclub as the Russian anthem played. Cheap Womens Nike Shox . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. Cheap Mens Nike Shox . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. http://www.clearancenikeshoxcheap.com/clearance-mens-nike-shox.html . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Cheap Nike Shox Retro . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Cheap Nike Shox Gravity Mens . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. The 2016-17 season couldnt have started better for the San Antonio Spurs, who began the post-Tim Duncan era with impressive back-to-back wins on the road.Now the Spurs open their home schedule Saturday night at the AT&T Center against the New Orleans Pelicans, who dropped their first two games, both of them at home, despite two superstar performances from forward Anthony Davis.San Antonio has been led in its first two games by forward Kawhi Leonard, who had 35 points in the Spurs surprisingly easy 129-100 win over defending Western Conference champion Golden State on Tuesday and 30 points in a 102-94 come-from-behind victory over Sacramento on Thursday.Leonard was hitting shots over two guys, Sacramentos DeMarcus Cousins said after Thursdays game. I heard he was working with Kobe (Bryant), and there were some flashes of Kobe tonight. Hes really good.But Leonards early-season success story has been as much about his defense (he is the two-time defending NBA defensive player of the year) as his scoring prowess.Leonard, who always seems to get to the correct spot in the passing lanes and outworks most opposing players, had five steals in each of the first two games, in the process becoming the first player to put together back-to-back 30-point, five-steal games since Miamis Eddie Jones in December 2002.Its also the first time a Spurs player has achieved that stat line in consecutive games since Alvin Robertson did so in 1986.In the win on Thursday, San Antonio went on a 16-2 run and held Sacramento without a basket for the final 7:20 of the third quarter, with the Kings missing nine straight shots in tthat stretch, as the Spurs rallied to take a 76-71 lead into the fourth quarter.ddddddddddddSan Antonio led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before fending off a final Sacramento surge and rolling in the end game.Sometimes things are not going to be as pretty, but the bottom line is we dug in and found a way to get it done, Spurs center Pau Gasol said. Experience is the heart of this team and were resilient and kept fighting. It was a good win.Its the flip side for the Pelicans. New Orleans lost at home to Golden State 122-114 late Friday night despite another video-game-like performance by Davis (45 points and 17 rebounds in 39 minutes).That showing came on the heels of Davis 50-point, 16-rebound, seven-steal, four-block performance in 41 minutes of court time in New Orleans season-opening 107-102 loss to Denver on Wednesday. It was only the third 50-point performance in an NBA season opener since 1963-64.Point guard Tim Frazier has been New Orleans second leading scorer each game, scoring 15 and 21 points, respectively.Im going to have to bring, probably not 50 every night, but get somewhere along those lines every game to give ourselves a chance to win, Davis said after the loss Wednesday. Thats the bottom line. I just got to keep finding guys and trust those guys that theyre going to make shots.The Spurs were 2-1 against the Pelicans last season, losing early in the Crescent City before winning in February in San Antonio and then in New Orleans in March. ' ' '