Soccer Watch

The Texas Longhorns (11-4-2, 5-1-1 Big 12) won their final home game of the season Sunday evening, 1-0 over rival Oklahoma. They're at Stephen F. Austin this Friday, then finish the regular season at nationally ranked Texas Tech, before heading into the Big 12 tournament, Nov. 6-10 in Kansas City. The Horns finished 2013 undefeated at home, at 10-0-1.

St. Edward's men (9-2-1) and women (10-0-2) both remain nationally ranked in Div. II, tentatively looking good for NCAA bids. They play a pair of conference doubleheaders this weekend, against UT-Permian Basin (Sat., Oct. 26) and Lubbock Christian (Mon., Oct. 28); men at noon, women at 2:30pm. Those are the final home games for the women; the men will play one final, nonconference game against rival St. Mary's in two weeks.

There were Champions League games this midweek both in Europe and North/Central America: In Europe, the rich continue to thrive – meaning clubs from England, Germany, and (ironically considering their real economic state) Spain. Halfway through the group stage, 11 of the 16 clubs in position to advance to the knockout round are from those three countries... In CONCACAF, Mexican giant Club America lost at home to Alajuel­en­se of Costa Rica, 1-0, to become only the second Mexican team ever eliminated in the group stage. Alajuelense and Mexico's Cruz Azul joined Tijuana and the L.A. Galaxy in the eight-team knockout round; the other four spots are being decided as we go to press, with the Houston Dynamo needing a result in Panama City (Thu., 7pm, Univision Deportes) to advance... Those knockout rounds will be played in the spring; the Euro group stage continues Nov. 5-6, 26-27, and Dec. 10-11.

It's the last weekend of Major League Soccer's regular season, with pretty much all the playoff spots still up for grabs. Two Sunday TV games: Houston needs a win at DC United to sneak into the postseason (12:30pm, NBC), and Seattle will be rocking for the season finale, hosting the Galaxy with a first-round bye on the line (8pm, ESPN).