Soccer Watch

Copa America: This week brings a rare opportunity to see top-level South American football on TV in Austin – on standard cable, or even broadcast on those almost-forgotten public airwaves. The tournament's first round finished after press time Wednesday evening, but all of the quarterfinal games are already set, though if Paraguay beats Brazil in the late game, those two slots would be reversed in the matchups listed below. For updated info and a full report on the results so far, see "Soccer Watch Online." For now, here's a look at the schedule of upcoming games:

Quarterfinals – Sat.-Sun., July 17-18

Peru vs. Argentina; Sat., 4:45pm (Uni)

Colombia vs. Costa Rica; Sat., 7:30pm (TF)

Brazil(?) vs. Uruguay – Sun., 2:45pm (Uni)

Mexico vs. Paraguay(?) – Sun., 7:45pm (Uni)

Semifinal 1: Winner 1 vs. Winner 2 – Tue., July 20, 7:30pm (Uni)

Semifinal 2: Winner 3 vs. Winner 4 – Wed., July 21, 7:30pm (TF)

Third Place – Sat., July 24, 7:30pm (TF)

Championship – Sun., July 25, 2:30pm (Uni)

All games are televised in Austin on either TeleFutura (TF) or Univision (Uni), broadcast channels 51 and 62, respectively.

The U.S. men extended their unbeaten streak to six matches on Sunday, tying Poland 1-1 on an 88th-minute Carlos Bocanegra header; it was their final tune-up before starting the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying on Aug. 18 in Jamaica.

The U.S. women have two games coming up before Olympic play kicks off Aug. 14. They face Australia on Wednesday, July 21, 6pm, and China on Sunday, Aug. 1, 1:55pm – both are on ESPN2.

Major League Soccer officially expanded on Wednesday, making Salt Lake City its newest (11th) franchise. The MLS has also granted an expansion team to Jorge Vergara, who owns the Mexican club Chivas and is still searching for a host city. In other MLS news, teen star Freddy Adu of D.C. United was one of 15 reserves picked Monday for the MLS All-Star team, though he has started just six of the team's 16 games. The game is Saturday, July 31, 1pm, on ABC.