Soccer Watch

The U.S. beat Italy for the first time ever, this Wednesday night in Genoa, Italy, with Clint Dempsey scoring the game's only goal and Tim Howard making some big plays as the Americans were being outshot, 19-7. Elsewhere, England lost at home to Holland 2-3, and Germany lost at home to France 1-2 on one of the last days for tune-ups before this summer's European Championships.

Set the DVR: European Champions League play resumes this week, with the round of 16 return leg the next two Tuesdays and Wednesdays (March 6-14), and all games will be aired live on Fox channels. This is the week of foregone conclusions: Arsenal won't make up an 0-4 first-leg result against Milan on Tuesday, and Barcelona will cruise into the next round against Bayer Leverkusen Wednesday (both at 1:45pm) – let's hope both teams play for style points... Great matchup for ESPN2's Premier League game of the week, early Saturday morning: Arsenal at Liverpool, 6:30am... One of the world's great derby rivalries, Roma-Lazio, is 8am Sunday morning on FSC, followed by Tottenham-Man U at 10am.

I'll get more local soon, I promise. Coming soon: the Austin Aztex first tryouts, and maybe the historic first roster signing; the local high school season heats up; and not one but two benefit co-ed soccer tournaments in the works.