And so the group stage is underway. For the most part, the home teams held serve – eight games on Tuesday, and just one visiting team managed to score. And there was nary an upset (unless you count Lyon dumping Real Madrid – again). It was a great week for English clubs, as Arsenal, Man U, and Chelsea all won, and Liverpool got a draw on the road. Two weeks now, until Game Day 2.

Group A
Barcelona and Chelsea took early control with a pair of dominating home shutouts. Barca got scores from five different players.
Barcelona 5, Levski Sofia 0
Chelsea 2, Werder Bremen 0

Group B
A good day for the home teams here as well; Bayern cruising, Sporting Lisbon hanging onto a slim win over Inter Milan, who had Patrick Vieira red carded.
Bayern Munich 4, Spartak Moscow 0
Sporting Lisbon 1, Inter Milan 0

Group C
A pair of scoreless draws is probably good news for the visitors, who were likely the favorites in this group already.
Galatasaray 0, Bordeaux 0
PSV Eindhoven 0, Liverpool 0

Group D
Valencia came from behind, and got two goals in the final five minutes to take a road win in Greece; Fernando Morientes tallied a hat trick. Roma left it late as well, getting four goals in the last 23 minutes to bury a pretty good Ukranian side.
Olympiakos 2, Valencia 4
Roma 4, Shakhtar Donetsk 0

Group E
Tough week for the Ukraine, whose teams had been on a roll. And what about Real Madrid? Last year's Galacticos lost at Lyon 3-0; this year's new, improved, Fabio Capello-led non-Galacticos were just a goal better.
Dynamo Kiev 1, Steaua Bucharest 4
Lyon 2, Real Madrid 0

Group F
The much anticipated all-British matchup lived up to its billing, with end-to-end play, and five goals in the first half. Man U's Sir Alex Ferguson promised his lads wouldn't fail again this year, and so far, so good.
Manchester United 3, Glasgow Celtic 2
FC Copenhagen 0, Benfica 0

Group G
Arsenal got a valuable win on the road, but didn't necessarily look all that convincing doing it. Hamburg played a man down almost the entire game, after having their goalkeeper sent off while conceding a penalty in the 10th minute.
FC Porto 0, CSKA Moscow 0
Hamburg 1, Arsenal 2

Group H
Milan coasted; they look to be the class of this group. Second place looks wide open; give an edge to the French side.
AC Milan 3, AEK Athens 0
Anderlecht 1, Lille 1

Top two teams in each group advance to the final 16 knockout round.
Match Day 2 is Sept. 26-27

The Lady Longhorns split a pair of road games last weekend, beating New Mexico 2-1 (Ashley Foster hit the winner in overtime), then losing 1-0 at Rice. The Horns' national ranking, up from nowhere to No. 8 last week, dropped to 23rd this week. Sic transit gloria. The Horns are back home this weekend for two nonconference games before the Big 12 schedule starts. Nicholls State, 7pm Friday; Cal St. Fullerton, 1pm Sunday. Myers Stadium, $7 (Friday: 4 tickets/$8, kids $1). Sophomore defender Stephanie Logterman is back with the team after her stint with the youth National Team at the U-20 World Championship in Russia. The U.S. finished fourth there, dropping both the semifinal and third place games in shootouts after 0-0 draws. Tough way to lose. In Europe, it's getting into the heart of the fall schedule, which means two games a week for many teams and players -- regular league games on weekends and cup and international play midweek. Last week it was the national teams, playing for Euro 2008 qualifying, this week it's the first games of the Champions League group stage. For the most part, the home teams held serve, and there was nary an upset (unless you count Lyon dumping Real Madrid -- again). It was a great week for English clubs, as Arsenal, Man U, and Chelsea all won, and Liverpool got a draw on the road. Here are the full results: Group A: Barcelona 5, Levski Sofia 0; Chelsea 2, Werder Bremen 0 Group B: Bayern Munich 4, Spartak Moscow 0; Sporting Lisbon 1, Inter Milan 0 Group C: Galatasaray 0, Bordeaux 0; PSV Eindhoven 0, Liverpool 0 Group D: Olympiakos 2, Valencia 4; Roma 4, Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Group E: Dynamo Kiev 1, Steaua Bucharest 4; Lyon 2, Real Madrid 0 Group F: FC Copenhagen 0, Benfica 0; Manchester United 3, Celtic Glasgow 2 Group G: FC Porto 0, CSKA Moscow 0; Hamburg 1, Arsenal 2 Group H: AC Milan 3, AEK Athens 0; Anderlecht 1, Lille 1

Top two teams in each group qualify for the final.

Results from Sept. 2 & 6

Most notably in this week's action, in Group B, Scotland started off with two wins, while world champ Italy managed only a home draw with Lithuania, and a 3-1 loss at France in a rematch of the WC final.
• Norway moved to the top of Group C with two wins.
• Germany scored a record 13 goals on the road against hapless San Marino. They also beat Ireland, and share the Group D lead with the Czech Republic.
• England and Israel both won twice to share the early lead in Group E.
• Northern Ireland had a complete turnaround: getting shut out at home, 3-0, by Iceland on Saturday, and coming back on Wednesday to beat Spain, 3-2 in Group F.
• Netherlands won twice to take the lead in Group G.

Group A
Saturday, Sept. 2
Poland 1, Finland 3
Serbia 1, Azerbaijan 0
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Finland 1, Portugal 1
Poland 1, Serbia 1
Armenia 0, Belgium 1
Azerbaijan 1, Kazakhstan 1

Group B
Saturday, Sept. 2
Italy 1, Lithuania 1
Scotland 6, Faroe Islands 0
Georgia 0, France 3
Wednesday, Sept. 6
France 3, Italy 1
Lithuania 1, Scotland 2
Ukraine 3, Georgia 2

Group C
Saturday, Sept. 2
Hungary 1, Norway 4
Malta 2, Bosnia-Herzegovina 5
Moldova 0, Greece 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Norway 2, Moldova 0
Turkey 2, Malta 0
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1, Hungary 3

Group D
Saturday, Sept. 2
Germany 1, Ireland 0
Slovakia 6, Cyprus 1
Czech Rep. 2, Wales 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
San Marino 0, Germany 13
Slovakia 0, Czech Rep. 3

Group E
Saturday, Sept. 2
England 5, Andorra 0
Estonia 0, Israel 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Macedonia 0 - 1 England 1
Israel 4, Andorra 1
Russia 0, Croatia 0

Group F
Saturday, Sept. 2
Latvia 0, Sweden 1
Northern Ireland 0, Iceland 3
Spain 4, Liechtenstein 0
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Northern Ireland 3, Spain 2
Iceland 0, Denmark 2
Sweden 3, Liechtenstein 1

Group G
Saturday, Sept. 2
Luxembourg 0, Netherlands 1
Romania 2, Bulgaria 2
Belarus 2, Albania 2
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Netherlands 3, Belarus 0
Albania 0, Romania 2
Bulgaria 3, Slovenia 0


The next games are Oct. 7 and 11, and Nov. 15.
And in 2007: March 24, 28, June 2, 6, Aug. 22, Sept. 9, 12, Oct. 13, 17, Nov. 17, 21.

The UT Lady Longhorns had a big weekend, beating third-ranked Penn State, 2-1, and then 13th-ranked Illinois, 1-0 in double overtime. Kelsey Carpenter scored both game-winning goals, to earn national player-of-the-week honors, while the Horns jumped as high as eighth in the national polls; they're on the road this week, at New Mexico Thursday, Rice Sunday, and LSU on Wednesday. Qualifying for the 2008 European Championship got underway for real this week, with full slates on Saturday and Wednesday. Most notably, in Group B, Scotland started off with two wins, while world champ Italy managed only a home draw with Lithuania, and a 3-1 loss at France in a rematch of the WC final. (See full results on Soccer Watch Online.) Marco Materazzi, of World Cup head-butted fame, didn't play in that game; he's serving a two-game suspension for provoking Zinedine Zidane in the WC final, and revealed this week just what it was that did the trick. Zidane: "If you want my shirt I'll give it to you afterwards." Materazzi: "I'd prefer your sister."

The Lady Longhorns' first home game of the season could be the best one all year. The Penn State Nittany Lions, fresh off a 3-1 pasting of No. 1 UCLA (see below), are probably the best team UT will face. As for the Horns, they opened with a 1-0 loss at Auburn (on an own goal, ouch!), despite outshooting the Tigers 15-6. Let's hope that's not the continuation of a trend. Over the past couple of years, the Horns have consistently outshot opponents but had trouble finishing. Penn State: Friday, Sept. 1, 7pm; Illinois: Sunday, Sept. 3, 1pm; Myers Stadium. $7 ($4 students, or see "Soccer Watch Online" for $1 tix). Horns' captain Stephanie Logterman will miss those games -- gladly. She's still with the U.S. national team at the Under-20 World Champion­ships, where the U.S. advanced to a Thursday semifinal against China by thumping defending champion Germany, 4-1, avenging a 2004 loss in the semifinals. In a busy opening weekend in NCAA women's soccer, the top three preseason picks all lost on the road: Penn State knocked off UCLA, defending champ Portland lost to Florida State, and Texas A&M beat North Carolina, 1-0, before an NCAA record crowd of 8,204 in College Station. But I've still got the Bruins at No. 1; they'll soon get back five starters who are now in Russia with the national team. 1) UCLA (1-1-0) 2) Santa Clara (2-0-0) 3) Penn State (1-0-1) 4) Florida State (1-0-0) 5) Notre Dame (2-0-0) 6) Texas A&M (2-0-0) 7) North Carolina (1-1-0) 8) Virginia (2-0-0) 9) Portland (0-1-1) 10) California (2-0-0)

Third Qualifying Round
Second Leg: Results from Aug. 22-23

AEK Athens 3, Hearts 0 (AEK 5-1 on aggregate goals)
Steaua Bucharest 2, Standard Liege 1 (Steaua 4-3 agg.)
Mlada Boleslav 1, Galatasaray 1 (Galatasaray 4-3 agg.)
Ruzomberok 0, CSKA Moscow 2 (CSKA 5-0 agg.)
Rabotnicki 0, Lille 1 (Lille 4-0 agg.)
Spartak Moscow 2, Slovan Liberec 1 (Spartak 2-1 agg.)
Chievo Verona 2, Levski Sofia 2 (Levski 4-2 agg.)
Fenerbahçe 2, Dynamo Kiev 2 (Dynamo 5-3 agg.)
Legia Warsaw 2, Shakhtar Donetsk 3 (Shakhtar 4-2 agg.)
Ajax Amsterdam 0, FC Kobenhavn 2 (Kobenhavn 3-2 agg.)
Maccabi Haifa 1, Liverpool 1 (Liverpool 3-2 agg.)
Red Star Belgrade 1, AC Milan 2 (Milan 3-1 agg.)
Valencia 3, Salzburg 0 (Valencia 3-1 agg.)
Osasuna 1, Hamburg 1 (Hamburg 1-1, away goals)
Arsenal 2, Dinamo Zagreb 1 (Arsenal 5-1 agg.)
Benfica 3, Austria Vienna 0 (Benfica 4-1 agg.)

With Spaniards Osasuna and Italians Chievo Verona losing, England is the only country this season to advance four teams into the CL group stage; Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Portugal have three apiece, and Greece, Russia, and Ukraine two each. Single entries from Bulgaria, Holland, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Scotland, and Belgium round out the field.

England and Spain each have three top seeds, and Italy has two. (Presumably, Juventus would've been a top seed, were they not disqualified due to scandolo.)

Group Stage Draw
(Teams listed in order of seedings; group play begins Sept. 12-13)

GROUP A
Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea (ENG)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Levski Sofia (BUL)

GROUP B
Inter Milan (ITA)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Spartak Moscow (RUS)

GROUP C
Liverpool (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Bordeaux (FRA)
Galatasaray (TUR)

GROUP D
Valencia (ESP)
AS Roma (ITA)
Olympiakos (GRE)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

GROUP E
Real Madrid (ESP)
Lyon (FRA)
Steaua Bucharest (ROM)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR)

GROUP F
Manchester United (ENG)
Celtic Glasgow (SCO)
Benfica (POR)
FC København (DEN)

GROUP G
Arsenal (ENG)
FC Porto (POR)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Hamburg (GER)

GROUP H
AC Milan (ITA)
Lille (FRA)
AEK Athens (GRE)
Anderlecht (BEL)

As noted in the print edition, the Lady Longhorns are back in action this week; practices are open to the public:
Aug. 10-22, 8-10:30am and 8-9:30pm at Mike A. Myers Stadium (times are approximate and subject to change).
The Horns also play an exhibition game against UT-San Antonio, 7pm Friday, Aug. 18, before opening their regular season the next week at Auburn.
Here's a preview of the Horns squad, sight unseen:

Overall, the Horns return 15 lettermen, and all but one regular starter from last year. And where last season's team featured just one senior who got any playing time, and six freshman who stepped in to make major contributions, this year's model has six seniors for leadership, and it's hard to see any newcomers getting a lot of playing time.

The Horns will miss graduated defender Julie Gailey, a four-year fixture in the back, and also the team assists leader last season. But defense will still be a strength, led by two outstanding sophomore defenders who've had national team experience – Kasey Moore and Stephanie Logterman – and two experienced goalkeepers in Dianna Pfenninger and Dana Hall.
Austin native Logterman will miss the start of the season, since she's playing on the U.S. Under-20 team at the FIFA World Championships in Russia from Aug. 17-Sept. 3. If the U.S. goes all the way to the finals (as they should), the team captain will be out for the first three games.

Up front, the Horns return their entire front line, and every goal-scorer from last year, led by Kelsey Carpenter, Caitlin Kennedy, Amy Burlingham, and Ashley Foster, who combined for 21 goals and 15 assists last year. With another year playing together, this has the potential to be an explosive attack.

One place there will be some new faces is on the sidelines. (And interesting that the Horns open their season at Auburn.) Just a couple of weeks ago, UT coach Chris Petrucelli announced the hiring of Matthew Mott as an assistant coach; Mott had been a key member of the Auburn soccer program since 1999, rising from assistant, to assistant head coach, to associate head coach for the last two years. Petrucelli's other assistant is new as well – Nicole Nelson, who was an assistant coach at Baylor last year, after three years as the head coach at Stephen F. Austin.

European Champions League, Third Qualifying Round
First Leg results, Aug. 6-7
Most of the favorites came through unscathed in their first tests of the season. A few highlights:

Liverpool waited to the 87th minute before scoring the winner over Israel's Maccabi Haifa at home; for security reasons, that return leg will be played in either Cyprus or Kiev, Ukraine.

Scotland's Hearts of Midlothian suffered a surprising home loss to AEK Athens.

AC Milan edged Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda), 1-0; that return leg in Serbia could be brutal.

Italy's Chievo Verona, elevated into the CL by the three disqualifications ahead of them in Italy, was lifeless in Bulgaria.

Heavily favored Valencia hit a wall in Austria.

Both Ukrainian clubs, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev, continued to impress, following up on Ukraine's good showing in WC2006.

Ajax Amsterdam won on the road with a goal in the 84th minute in Copenhagen.

Arsenal looked to be in midseason form in a 3-0 road romp in Croatia.


The return leg games are Aug. 22-23. The 16 winners advance to the Champions League group stage, which will begin Sept. 12.

The full results:

Liverpool 2 - 1 Maccabi Haifa
Hearts 1 - 2 AEK Athens
AC Milan 1 - 0 Red Star Belgrade
Salzburg 1 - 0 Valencia
Standard Liege 2 - 2 Steaua Bucharest
FC Kobenhaven 1 - 2 Ajax Amsterdam
Hamburg 0 - 0 Osasuna
Slovan Liberec 0 - 0 Spartak Moscow
Galatasaray 5 - 2 Mlada Boleslav
Levski Sofia 2 - 0 Chievo Verona
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 0 Legia
CSKA Moscow 3 - 0 Ruzomberok
Lille 3 - 0 Rabotnicki
Dynamo Kiev 3 - 1 Fenerbahçe
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 3 Arsenal
Austria Vienna 1 - 1 Benfica

Adult Soccer
Austin Women’s Soccer League
Austin Men’s Soccer Association
Austin Co-Ed Soccer Association
Texas State Soccer Association-South (state organization)
United States Adult Soccer Association (national organization)

Youth Soccer
University Interscholastic League (UIL) (runs high school sports in Texas)
Capital Area Youth Soccer Association (CAYSA) (regional association has links to all accredited youth clubs)
South Texas Youth Soccer Association (state association)
U.S. Youth Soccer (USYS) (national association)

Some Local Youth Clubs
CC United Soccer Club
Austin United Capitals Soccer Club
River City Rangers
North Austin Soccer Alliance
West Austin Youth Association (WAYA)
East Austin Soccer Club
University Hills Optimists: 401 W. St. Johns, 453-6852

Other
Austin Aztex (USL First Division and PDL teams)
Stoke City FC (English League Championship; affiliated with Austin Aztex) Austin Amp'd (Premier Arena Soccer League team)
Soccer Zone Austin (indoor soccer facilities and leagues)
Soccer Enterprise (Frank Allcorn’s site; lots of info)
Paisanos Soccer Club (national champ over-30 men’s team)
United Soccer Leagues (USL) (national pro/semi-pro leagues)
U.S. Soccer Federation (governing body of soccer in all forms in the U.S.)
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) (world ruling body)

Local College Programs
University of Texas (NCAA Division I Women)
St. Edward’s Men and Women (NCAA Division II)
Concordia Men and Women (NCAA Division III)
Huston-Tillotson University Men (NAIA)