Soccer Watch

The Austin Aztex suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss Saturday to Portland Timbers 2, in front of a record crowd of 5,146 at Kelly Reeves Stadium, despite outplaying the Timbers for most of the game and creating the better scoring chances. With teams in front of them in the standings winning, the Aztex are now six points out of playoff position; with just eight games left to play, they probably need to win five of them. That starts this Saturday night at the Orange County Blues, the team holding down the sixth and final postseason spot. After that it's home games the next two Saturdays: LA Galaxy II on Aug. 15, and Orange County on Aug. 22, before finishing on the road for four of their last five games.

Tuesday was officially move-in day for Longhorn Soccer, as the squad prepares for fall training. For the first time, UT Athletics is offering soccer season tickets: $49-$59 includes all 10 regular season home matches, starting Aug. 28 against national power North Carolina(!). Purchase at www.texassports.com or 512-471-3333.

Aug. 12 is the deadline to register for the inaugural Footgolf City Championship, to be played Aug. 15 at the Harvey Penick Golf Campus, 5501 Ed Bluestein Blvd., presented by the Austin Aztex. If you haven't yet played footgolf, it's a blast – played by kicking a soccer ball into oversized holes, around Penick's nine-hole golf course. The $25 entry fee includes a practice round prior to the day of the tournament, two slices of pizza and a snow cone, a ticket to that evening's Aztex game, and a chance to take home the title of Footgolf City Champion. All proceeds benefit The First Tee of Greater Austin's youth development programs. Enter at www.thefirstteeaustin.org.

CONCACAF Champions League group play started Tuesday with Real Salt Lake winning in Guatemala City, and two Mexican teams winning their openers as well.

Over in Europe, the English Premier League kicks off this Saturday, Aug. 8, with NBC again offering blanket coverage, showing every game across its various networks. France and Holland start up this week as well, with Germany, Spain, Italy, and the rest all in action by Aug. 22. ... But even before the regular season started, Arsenal won the first trophy of the English season, beating Chelsea, 1-0 in the annual Community Shield match between the winners of last year's league and FA Cup.