And so the group stage is underway. For the most part, the home teams held serve – eight games on Tuesday, and just one visiting team managed to score. And there was nary an upset (unless you count Lyon dumping Real Madrid – again). It was a great week for English clubs, as Arsenal, Man U, and Chelsea all won, and Liverpool got a draw on the road. Two weeks now, until Game Day 2.

Group A
Barcelona and Chelsea took early control with a pair of dominating home shutouts. Barca got scores from five different players.
Barcelona 5, Levski Sofia 0
Chelsea 2, Werder Bremen 0

Group B
A good day for the home teams here as well; Bayern cruising, Sporting Lisbon hanging onto a slim win over Inter Milan, who had Patrick Vieira red carded.
Bayern Munich 4, Spartak Moscow 0
Sporting Lisbon 1, Inter Milan 0

Group C
A pair of scoreless draws is probably good news for the visitors, who were likely the favorites in this group already.
Galatasaray 0, Bordeaux 0
PSV Eindhoven 0, Liverpool 0

Group D
Valencia came from behind, and got two goals in the final five minutes to take a road win in Greece; Fernando Morientes tallied a hat trick. Roma left it late as well, getting four goals in the last 23 minutes to bury a pretty good Ukranian side.
Olympiakos 2, Valencia 4
Roma 4, Shakhtar Donetsk 0

Group E
Tough week for the Ukraine, whose teams had been on a roll. And what about Real Madrid? Last year's Galacticos lost at Lyon 3-0; this year's new, improved, Fabio Capello-led non-Galacticos were just a goal better.
Dynamo Kiev 1, Steaua Bucharest 4
Lyon 2, Real Madrid 0

Group F
The much anticipated all-British matchup lived up to its billing, with end-to-end play, and five goals in the first half. Man U's Sir Alex Ferguson promised his lads wouldn't fail again this year, and so far, so good.
Manchester United 3, Glasgow Celtic 2
FC Copenhagen 0, Benfica 0

Group G
Arsenal got a valuable win on the road, but didn't necessarily look all that convincing doing it. Hamburg played a man down almost the entire game, after having their goalkeeper sent off while conceding a penalty in the 10th minute.
FC Porto 0, CSKA Moscow 0
Hamburg 1, Arsenal 2

Group H
Milan coasted; they look to be the class of this group. Second place looks wide open; give an edge to the French side.
AC Milan 3, AEK Athens 0
Anderlecht 1, Lille 1

Top two teams in each group advance to the final 16 knockout round.
Match Day 2 is Sept. 26-27

The Lady Longhorns split a pair of road games last weekend, beating New Mexico 2-1 (Ashley Foster hit the winner in overtime), then losing 1-0 at Rice. The Horns' national ranking, up from nowhere to No. 8 last week, dropped to 23rd this week. Sic transit gloria. The Horns are back home this weekend for two nonconference games before the Big 12 schedule starts. Nicholls State, 7pm Friday; Cal St. Fullerton, 1pm Sunday. Myers Stadium, $7 (Friday: 4 tickets/$8, kids $1). Sophomore defender Stephanie Logterman is back with the team after her stint with the youth National Team at the U-20 World Championship in Russia. The U.S. finished fourth there, dropping both the semifinal and third place games in shootouts after 0-0 draws. Tough way to lose. In Europe, it's getting into the heart of the fall schedule, which means two games a week for many teams and players -- regular league games on weekends and cup and international play midweek. Last week it was the national teams, playing for Euro 2008 qualifying, this week it's the first games of the Champions League group stage. For the most part, the home teams held serve, and there was nary an upset (unless you count Lyon dumping Real Madrid -- again). It was a great week for English clubs, as Arsenal, Man U, and Chelsea all won, and Liverpool got a draw on the road. Here are the full results: Group A: Barcelona 5, Levski Sofia 0; Chelsea 2, Werder Bremen 0 Group B: Bayern Munich 4, Spartak Moscow 0; Sporting Lisbon 1, Inter Milan 0 Group C: Galatasaray 0, Bordeaux 0; PSV Eindhoven 0, Liverpool 0 Group D: Olympiakos 2, Valencia 4; Roma 4, Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Group E: Dynamo Kiev 1, Steaua Bucharest 4; Lyon 2, Real Madrid 0 Group F: FC Copenhagen 0, Benfica 0; Manchester United 3, Celtic Glasgow 2 Group G: FC Porto 0, CSKA Moscow 0; Hamburg 1, Arsenal 2 Group H: AC Milan 3, AEK Athens 0; Anderlecht 1, Lille 1

Top two teams in each group qualify for the final.

Results from Sept. 2 & 6

Most notably in this week's action, in Group B, Scotland started off with two wins, while world champ Italy managed only a home draw with Lithuania, and a 3-1 loss at France in a rematch of the WC final.
• Norway moved to the top of Group C with two wins.
• Germany scored a record 13 goals on the road against hapless San Marino. They also beat Ireland, and share the Group D lead with the Czech Republic.
• England and Israel both won twice to share the early lead in Group E.
• Northern Ireland had a complete turnaround: getting shut out at home, 3-0, by Iceland on Saturday, and coming back on Wednesday to beat Spain, 3-2 in Group F.
• Netherlands won twice to take the lead in Group G.

Group A
Saturday, Sept. 2
Poland 1, Finland 3
Serbia 1, Azerbaijan 0
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Finland 1, Portugal 1
Poland 1, Serbia 1
Armenia 0, Belgium 1
Azerbaijan 1, Kazakhstan 1

Group B
Saturday, Sept. 2
Italy 1, Lithuania 1
Scotland 6, Faroe Islands 0
Georgia 0, France 3
Wednesday, Sept. 6
France 3, Italy 1
Lithuania 1, Scotland 2
Ukraine 3, Georgia 2

Group C
Saturday, Sept. 2
Hungary 1, Norway 4
Malta 2, Bosnia-Herzegovina 5
Moldova 0, Greece 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Norway 2, Moldova 0
Turkey 2, Malta 0
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1, Hungary 3

Group D
Saturday, Sept. 2
Germany 1, Ireland 0
Slovakia 6, Cyprus 1
Czech Rep. 2, Wales 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
San Marino 0, Germany 13
Slovakia 0, Czech Rep. 3

Group E
Saturday, Sept. 2
England 5, Andorra 0
Estonia 0, Israel 1
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Macedonia 0 - 1 England 1
Israel 4, Andorra 1
Russia 0, Croatia 0

Group F
Saturday, Sept. 2
Latvia 0, Sweden 1
Northern Ireland 0, Iceland 3
Spain 4, Liechtenstein 0
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Northern Ireland 3, Spain 2
Iceland 0, Denmark 2
Sweden 3, Liechtenstein 1

Group G
Saturday, Sept. 2
Luxembourg 0, Netherlands 1
Romania 2, Bulgaria 2
Belarus 2, Albania 2
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Netherlands 3, Belarus 0
Albania 0, Romania 2
Bulgaria 3, Slovenia 0


The next games are Oct. 7 and 11, and Nov. 15.
And in 2007: March 24, 28, June 2, 6, Aug. 22, Sept. 9, 12, Oct. 13, 17, Nov. 17, 21.

The UT Lady Longhorns had a big weekend, beating third-ranked Penn State, 2-1, and then 13th-ranked Illinois, 1-0 in double overtime. Kelsey Carpenter scored both game-winning goals, to earn national player-of-the-week honors, while the Horns jumped as high as eighth in the national polls; they're on the road this week, at New Mexico Thursday, Rice Sunday, and LSU on Wednesday. Qualifying for the 2008 European Championship got underway for real this week, with full slates on Saturday and Wednesday. Most notably, in Group B, Scotland started off with two wins, while world champ Italy managed only a home draw with Lithuania, and a 3-1 loss at France in a rematch of the WC final. (See full results on Soccer Watch Online.) Marco Materazzi, of World Cup head-butted fame, didn't play in that game; he's serving a two-game suspension for provoking Zinedine Zidane in the WC final, and revealed this week just what it was that did the trick. Zidane: "If you want my shirt I'll give it to you afterwards." Materazzi: "I'd prefer your sister."

Third Qualifying Round
Second Leg: Results from Aug. 22-23

AEK Athens 3, Hearts 0 (AEK 5-1 on aggregate goals)
Steaua Bucharest 2, Standard Liege 1 (Steaua 4-3 agg.)
Mlada Boleslav 1, Galatasaray 1 (Galatasaray 4-3 agg.)
Ruzomberok 0, CSKA Moscow 2 (CSKA 5-0 agg.)
Rabotnicki 0, Lille 1 (Lille 4-0 agg.)
Spartak Moscow 2, Slovan Liberec 1 (Spartak 2-1 agg.)
Chievo Verona 2, Levski Sofia 2 (Levski 4-2 agg.)
Fenerbahçe 2, Dynamo Kiev 2 (Dynamo 5-3 agg.)
Legia Warsaw 2, Shakhtar Donetsk 3 (Shakhtar 4-2 agg.)
Ajax Amsterdam 0, FC Kobenhavn 2 (Kobenhavn 3-2 agg.)
Maccabi Haifa 1, Liverpool 1 (Liverpool 3-2 agg.)
Red Star Belgrade 1, AC Milan 2 (Milan 3-1 agg.)
Valencia 3, Salzburg 0 (Valencia 3-1 agg.)
Osasuna 1, Hamburg 1 (Hamburg 1-1, away goals)
Arsenal 2, Dinamo Zagreb 1 (Arsenal 5-1 agg.)
Benfica 3, Austria Vienna 0 (Benfica 4-1 agg.)

With Spaniards Osasuna and Italians Chievo Verona losing, England is the only country this season to advance four teams into the CL group stage; Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Portugal have three apiece, and Greece, Russia, and Ukraine two each. Single entries from Bulgaria, Holland, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Scotland, and Belgium round out the field.

England and Spain each have three top seeds, and Italy has two. (Presumably, Juventus would've been a top seed, were they not disqualified due to scandolo.)

Group Stage Draw
(Teams listed in order of seedings; group play begins Sept. 12-13)

GROUP A
Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea (ENG)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Levski Sofia (BUL)

GROUP B
Inter Milan (ITA)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Spartak Moscow (RUS)

GROUP C
Liverpool (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Bordeaux (FRA)
Galatasaray (TUR)

GROUP D
Valencia (ESP)
AS Roma (ITA)
Olympiakos (GRE)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

GROUP E
Real Madrid (ESP)
Lyon (FRA)
Steaua Bucharest (ROM)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR)

GROUP F
Manchester United (ENG)
Celtic Glasgow (SCO)
Benfica (POR)
FC København (DEN)

GROUP G
Arsenal (ENG)
FC Porto (POR)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Hamburg (GER)

GROUP H
AC Milan (ITA)
Lille (FRA)
AEK Athens (GRE)
Anderlecht (BEL)

European Champions League, Third Qualifying Round
First Leg results, Aug. 6-7
Most of the favorites came through unscathed in their first tests of the season. A few highlights:

Liverpool waited to the 87th minute before scoring the winner over Israel's Maccabi Haifa at home; for security reasons, that return leg will be played in either Cyprus or Kiev, Ukraine.

Scotland's Hearts of Midlothian suffered a surprising home loss to AEK Athens.

AC Milan edged Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda), 1-0; that return leg in Serbia could be brutal.

Italy's Chievo Verona, elevated into the CL by the three disqualifications ahead of them in Italy, was lifeless in Bulgaria.

Heavily favored Valencia hit a wall in Austria.

Both Ukrainian clubs, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev, continued to impress, following up on Ukraine's good showing in WC2006.

Ajax Amsterdam won on the road with a goal in the 84th minute in Copenhagen.

Arsenal looked to be in midseason form in a 3-0 road romp in Croatia.


The return leg games are Aug. 22-23. The 16 winners advance to the Champions League group stage, which will begin Sept. 12.

The full results:

Liverpool 2 - 1 Maccabi Haifa
Hearts 1 - 2 AEK Athens
AC Milan 1 - 0 Red Star Belgrade
Salzburg 1 - 0 Valencia
Standard Liege 2 - 2 Steaua Bucharest
FC Kobenhaven 1 - 2 Ajax Amsterdam
Hamburg 0 - 0 Osasuna
Slovan Liberec 0 - 0 Spartak Moscow
Galatasaray 5 - 2 Mlada Boleslav
Levski Sofia 2 - 0 Chievo Verona
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 0 Legia
CSKA Moscow 3 - 0 Ruzomberok
Lille 3 - 0 Rabotnicki
Dynamo Kiev 3 - 1 Fenerbahçe
Dinamo Zagreb 0 - 3 Arsenal
Austria Vienna 1 - 1 Benfica

The Italian match-fixing scandal boiled over last Friday, as Juventus, Lazio, and Fiorentina were demoted to the second division, while Silvio Berlusconi's AC Milan avoided demotion but got a 15-point penalty for the coming season, and a ban from European play. Juve was also stripped of its last two Serie A titles, and given a 30-point penalty for next season, meaning it's almost certain to spend at least two years in the minor league. All four clubs will appeal the ruling; meanwhile, criminal probes are ongoing as well.

Also on Friday, U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena was axed by the U.S. Soccer Federation. His likely successor? Speculation centers on Juergen Klinsmann, who lives in California, and resigned as the German head coach just after the World Cup. As for Arena, he was out of a job for just three days, before being hired by the New York Red Bulls on Tuesday.

Reigning European champs FC Barcelona will be at Houston's Reliant Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 9 to play Mexican side Club America, current CONCACAF champions, as part of a doubleheader with the Houston Dynamo and L.A. Galaxy. Barcelona's U.S. tour will also take them to Los Angeles on Aug. 6 and New York on Aug. 12.

You hate to see a game, let alone a championship, get decided by penalty kicks, but it does make for perhaps the most exciting five minutes in sports. Great ending to a great World Cup.

Afterwards, of course, all the talk has been about the head-butt (see below for some links and video clips). Crack teams of lipreaders at The Guardian and elsewhere have come up with various interpretations of what Marco Materazzi may have said to Zizou, mostly centering on his mother, his sister, their nipples, terrorism, and an accusation of being a French collaborator during Algeria’s war for independence – but ultimately, the incident had little effect on the outcome.

National team coaches Marcello Lippi of Italy and Juergen Klinsmann of Germany both announced their resignations Wednesday. Lippi goes out a hero, but also under scrutiny in the ongoing match-fixing scandal in Italy. Klinsmann also leaves on good terms, with a reported 93% public-approval rating, and with the prospect of another job coming open closer to his California home; U.S. coach Bruce Arena is said to be on his way out; he’ll meet with USSF officials this week.

The new coaches won’t have much time to settle in; the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 begins Sept. 21.

FIFA released their redesigned world rankings on Wednesday, weighted more toward more recent games, and with an enhanced “strength of schedule” component. Brazil remains number one, Italy rose from 11th to second, and Germany, France, England, and Argentina moved up as well. On the other hand, the U.S. dropped from fifth to 16th, and Mexico from fourth to 18th.

A Few Head-Butt links and resources:
Materazzi Hit Lists:
Sports Illustrated
New York Times
World Cup 365
Zidane speaks
Zidane's mother speaks: "I want his balls on a platter"
Materazzi's agent: "My personal wish would be that one day they could meet again and maybe make a nice moment.'
An Arcade Game

Saturday, 1:55pm: Germany-Portugal.
I know: who cares about third place? But this could be a fun game. The Germans are playing essentially an exhibition game for their home fans -- a final game together for this very popular squad. Portugal has nothing more to lose, but some prestige to gain. Let's hope for a beautiful game from two teams who have more interest in playing attractive soccer than in just surviving.
Menu: German black bread, with various cheeses and sausages, and lots of bier; Pastéis de Bacalhau (Codfish Pastries) (excellent recipe below; thanks to Sofia Resnick), plus sardines, mussels, etc., Portuguese cheeses, and vinho verde.

Sunday, 12:55pm: Italy-France. (Note the earlier start.)
Long-awaited, but unexpected, rematch of the 2000 European Championship Final, won by France in overtime. There are a lot of the same players, on both sides, but it's been thus far a very different Italian team, with coach Marcello Lippi using lots of strikers, unleashing the midfielders to go forward (in the 120th minute of the semifinal, it was a defender who was all the way up front to score the winning goal) ... and thus putting a lot of pressure on the remaining defenders and goalkeeper. (With Buffon, Cannavaro, and Nesta, you can do that.) Should be a tough test for a very inspired French team.
Menu: Tortellini, Pane Rustica with prosciutto e melone, salami antipasto, fresh mozzarella, mascarpone, and other cheeses, cornetti, espresso, Peroni, vino rosso; Croissants and baguettes, with fromages & pates, vin rouge. Afterwards: Amaretto? Benedictine?

Pastéis de Bacalhau (Codfish Pastries)
1 pound dried salt cod
2 cups milk
4 medium Idaho potatoes
1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, if needed
Vegetable oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, for serving


Starting a day ahead, soak the dried cod in cold water for 12 to 24 hours, changing the water several times to remove most of the salt. Drain the cod, rinse, and put it in a large pot. Add the milk and enough water to cover by 1-inch; cooking the cod in milk keeps it really moist. Simmer gently over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cod is tender and pliable. Drain and rinse well, then flake the cod into a bowl with your hands, removing any little bits of skin and bone.

While the cod is cooking, pour 1-inch of water in a large pot fitted with a steamer insert. Add the potatoes and simmer on medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes until very tender. Drain the potatoes, peel off the skins, and mash them well with a potato masher or pass them through a ricer or sieve.

Add the cod to the potatoes, along with the onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and eggs. Beat the mixture firmly with a wooden spoon so that it well combined and firm - a spoon should stand up in it. (If you find it too dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk.) Season with a pinch of pepper and taste for salt - you may not need to add any, as the cod itself retains enough saltiness, in spite of being soaked and boiled. With lightly moistened hands or using 2 tablespoons, shape the cod mixture into egg-shaped balls - you should get about 25. (The cod balls can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day before cooking or frozen in a container.) (NB: I made smaller, bite-sized versions -- maybe halfway between a marble and a golf ball. I also lightly sauteed the onion and garlic before mixing it in.)

Heat 3-inches of oil in a deep heavy skillet or pot to 370 degrees F. Add a few of the cod balls at a time to the hot oil, turning them 3 or 4 times to get nicely browned all over. Carefully lift the cod fritters out of the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a platter lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat. Serve hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges.