A Busy, Busy Soccer Week

High school playoffs start this week. Locally, the LBJ boys play Pflugerville Henderson; district winner Travis has a first-round bye, but plays on the weekend. The McCallum girls also play Henderson; the winner takes on Dripping Springs, and then, possibly, undefeated Leander Vista Ridge.

Houston Dynamo is hosting Municipal of Guatemala in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals as we go to press. D.C. United already advanced to the semis, routing Jamaica's Harbor View, 5-0.

This Thursday, March 20, the U.S. U-23 play Canada for a spot in the Beijing Olympics, 7:30pm, live on Fox Soccer Channel. ... With Mexico eliminated from that Olympic qualifying early, embattled national team coach Hugo Sanchez may be on his way out.

Expect the British pubs to be buzzing Sunday, as the top four teams in the premiership face off against each other. At 8:30am it's Liverpool at Manchester United (pay per view and Fadó only). Arsenal at Chelsea, at 11am, is on FSC, so pretty much everyone will be showing it.

Below: Aztex, Stoke City, Champs League, selected Euro results.

The Austin Aztex had almost 300 players come to their weekend tryouts, and have just announced their first roster signings for their inaugural season, kicking off May 3.

Stoke's just gone back atop the League Championship standings; with just seven games left in the season, they're in a virtually tied four-team race. Three teams will be promoted to the Premier League next year.

The Champions League and UEFA Cup draws are set; the highlight is Arsenal-Liverpool, who play each other three times in one week: April 2 & 8 in the Champions League, sandwiched around an April 5 premiership showdown in London.

Glasgow Rangers won the Scottish League Cup Sunday, beating Dundee 3-2 on penalty kicks… Lazio beat Roma, 3-2, on Wednesday, to earn a derby split for the year… the U.S. Men play Poland next Wednesday, March 26, 2:30pm, live on FSC.