Soccer Watch

The first legs of the CONCACAF Champ­ions League semifinals are this week: FC Dallas hosts four-time CONCACAF champion Pachuca tonight, Wednesday, March 15, at 7pm on Univision; Tigres-Vancouver was Tuesday after we went to press. The return legs will be Tue.-Wed., April 4-5.

Barcelona pulled off an amazing escape last week in the European Champions League, scoring three goals after the 87th minute, to rescue a seemingly impossible 6-5 aggregate win over Paris St. Germain. They're into the quarterfinals along with Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Real Madrid, Leicester and Juventus; the final two slots will be filled today, Wed., March 15: Manchester City-Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen-Atletico Madrid are at 2:45pm, live on FS1 & 2. (Note the time shift, due to daylight saving time).

We're just a week away from the U.S. men returning to World Cup Qualifying. After they lost the first two games in the final group round in November, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is gone and new chief Bruce Arena is set to name his provisional 25-man roster today, with most of the speculation swirling around the wing defenders, where both top choices are unavailable; goalie, where Tim Howard may take back the number one; and the strikers, where there's a lot of talent to choose from, augmented by the possible return of Clint Dempsey for the first time since his heart problems last year. Two losses isn't the end of the world in the six-team, 10-game final round, but next week's games – Fri., March 24, hosting Honduras, and Tue., March 28, in Panama – have a must-win feel.