Soccer Watch

The holiday soccer break – during which pretty much only the English play for a two-week period – is over, with most of the other leagues in the civilized world resuming play this week... Looking forward: With this summer's World Cup field set, there are no international games of note on the horizon for a while; but the European and CONCACAF Champions Leagues will start their knockout rounds in February, and MLS training camps open in just a couple of weeks... Will this be the last season for the Columbus Crew? There's been no word or action over the holidays regarding an Austin stadium plan, but wheels are turning, and the clock is ticking...

FiveThirtyEight.com's new interactive page, "Which World Cup Team Should You Root For?," promises to match the bereft fan with a team that matches their predilections: underdog, attacking team, etc. That sounded like fun, until it matched me up with Spain, and then Sweden when I tried again with slightly different answers. Ugh. I'm not that kind of person. Still, you can try it yourself at projects.fivethirtyeight.com/world-cup-quiz.