At the
Athens Olympics, the women's semifinal match between the
U.S. and Germany was everything it was cracked up to be: In a 2-1 overtime thriller, the American women got revenge against Germany for last year's World Cup, probably regained their No. 1 world ranking, and set up an emotional finale for Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, and the rest of the "Class of '92" who've announced that this will be their last international competition. That will come in today's gold medal game against Brazil.
Thursday, Aug. 26, 1pm, NBC. (The bronze medal game between Sweden and Germany is at 10am on MSNBC.) The
men's final pits Argentina
against Paraguay
(Sat., Aug. 28, 2am, CNBC; rebroadcast at 2pm on MSNBC). Italy faces popular favorite
Iraq for the bronze; I'm not sure if that one's being televised, though it seems a good bet, given the brouhaha over
President Bush's attempt to use the Iraqis as a political football (sorry about the pun), and their anguished denunciations thereof. ("
How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" asked midfielder Ahmed Manajid. "He has committed so many crimes." "It's fantastic, isn't it," gushed Bush.)
Even before league play has begun in much of Europe, most of the big teams around the continent were in action this Tuesday-Wednesday, as Champions League and UEFA Cup qualifying rounds concluded. There were no real upsets, though a few of the favorites looked vulnerable. For all the results, see "Soccer Watch Online."
The U.S. men earned a 1-1 draw in Kingston last Wednesday to open their campaign to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. The next game date is Saturday, Sept. 4, against El Salvador.
College football starts this weekend: Both the UT women and St. Edward's men open their seasons at home on Friday night. St. Ed's takes on Central Arkansas at 5pm, and UT plays Clemson on Friday and Michigan on Sunday, both at 7:30pm at Myers Stadium. This could be a great year for the Longhorns – they return 10 starters and 17 letter-winners from last year, and opened their season last week with a 4-1 pasting (in Los Angeles) of a UCLA team that went to the Final Four last year and lost only two games all season – both to North Carolina. – Nick Barbaro
