Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., Oct. 7, 2016
The U.S. men play a couple of friendlies this week: at Cuba at 3pm, Fri., Oct. 7, and hosting New Zealand at 7pm, Tue., Oct. 11 in Washington, D.C., their last tuneups before the final round of World Cup qualifying starts Nov. 11 against archrival Mexico. Elsewhere, there's WC qualifying in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia, with a lot of games on TV, Oct. 6-11.
Three big losses for the UT Longhorns on the weekend: a pair of home games, and leading scorer Alexa Adams to a knee injury (extent of damage unknown). They host Kansas State in a non-conference game at 7pm, Fri., Oct. 7, at Myers Stadium (and on the Longhorn Network), before finishing the regular season with four tough Big 12 games... The St. Edward's men suffered their first loss last Thursday, and dropped to eighth in the nation this week; the Hilltopper women made their national poll debut at No. 15, on the strength of two shutout wins on the road.
What a turnaround for the U.S. women at this week's U-17 World Cup. After destroying Paraguay in the opener, 6-1, they lost to Ghana, 2-1, in their second game, and are now left probably needing to beat defending champ Japan in the finale (Saturday at 11am on Fox Sports 2) to advance to the knockout round. Mexico, meanwhile, with a roster that's half Mexican-American products of U.S. youth programs, has clinched a spot in the final eight.
Abby Wambach will be the keynote speaker at Annie's List's annual San Antonio luncheon this Friday, Oct. 7, at the Marriott Riverwalk. Annie's List works to elect progressive women to elected offices across Texas; see www.annieslist.com for more info.
