Soccer Watch

Stoke City had a couple of good wins this week (4-2 at Wolves on Saturday, 3-2 over Southamp­ton on Tuesday) to move into third place in the English League Championship. A win at home on Friday over last-place Scun­thorpe would put the Potters into first place, at least temporarily. I bring it up, of course, because Stoke is our new sister soccer city, via their relationship with the Austin Aztex. The Aztex will hold tryouts for their Premier Development League squad March 8-9 & 15-16. Countdown to ­kickoff: 80 days.

Champions League knockout stages get under way next week, Feb. 19-20, and ESPN2 has a great pair of England-Italy matchups for your viewing ­pleasure: Inter Milan at Liverpool Tuesday and AC Milan at Arsenal Wednesday, both at 1:30pm.

Egypt repeated as African Nations Cup champions Sunday, edging Cameroon, 1-0, in the final.

North and South Korea, officially at war for 57 years now, are at an impasse on what flags and national anthems to use when they meet March 23 in a key World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang. They may ask FIFA to step in and mediate; God help them.