Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., Dec. 1, 2017
Soccer Election?
See "Public Notice," Dec. 1, for an update on Columbus Crew FC's planned move to Austin… Meanwhile, the Crew are at Toronto FC in the MLS Eastern Conference finals Wednesday evening as we go to press. Houston is at Seattle Thursday, Nov. 30, at 9:30pm on FS1.
Major League Soccer announced this week that Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, and Sacramento are the four finalists for two expansion cities to be announced by the end of the year, expected to start play in 2020. San Antonio tops the list of the cities shut out of that process for now, though there will be one more expansion round to be announced at a later date.
The European Champions League group stage concludes next Tue.-Wed., Dec. 5-6, with several games both days at 1:45pm on Fox Sports and other networks. Four of the five English entries have already clinched spots in the final 16; Liverpool needs a result against Spartak Moscow (Wed. on FS2)… Europa League group play winds up the next day, Thu., Dec. 7, with several games at both noon and 2pm… The World Cup draw is in Moscow this Friday, Dec. 1 (live on FS1 at 9am). Teams will be split into four pots by world ranking, to be drawn into eight, four-team groups, to be played out across three time zones next summer in Russia, June 14-July 15.
