Soccer Watch

The Mexican League kicked off its spring season last weekend. Unlike most leagues, Mexico splits its season into two separate parts, each followed by its own set of playoffs: the Apertura in the fall, and the Clausura in the spring. I'm going to make an effort to figure out the Mexican League this year -- and an effort it will have to be, because the league's visibility outside Mexico and select Mexican-American media is virtually nil, worse even than my Spanish. But the Mexican game I do understand: hard and physical, with an emphasis on individual skills and footwork, rather than the European style of positioning, teamwork, and long passes. It's a pleasing game to watch, with a ton of evident emotion, and, of course, a bank of play-by-play announcers famous worldwide for their own emotional approach to the game. The only problem is, if you don't know any of the teams, you can't tell what it is they're being so emotional about. So I've decided to pick a favorite team to follow, Pumas, and as luck will have it, Univision has them in their game of the week this Sunday, Jan. 25, at noon against Atlas.

The U.S. men's national team settled for a 1-1 draw against Denmark on Sunday at the national soccer center in Carson, Calif. Both sides used the exhibition as an opportunity to test some young players vying for spots in their national teams, and for the most part, the U.S. youngsters looked good. Both goals came on penalty kicks, with Landon Donovan tallying for the Americans. The U.S. next plays on Feb. 18, taking on Holland in Amsterdam.

With much of the continent still shaking off the holiday break, European headlines continue to be dominated by a spate of midseason trades and signings -- and U.S. players figure heavily. Striker Brian McBride and defender Carlos Bocanegra both signed with London club Fulham. McBride, a seven-time MLS all-star with the Columbus Crew, was particularly sought after; Fulham outbid several other Premier League clubs to get him. They'll pay the MLS more than $1 million in transfer fees, and McBride's salary will be about $1.5 million, almost five times what he made last year... McBride's partner on the U.S. front line, Clint Mathis, also made headlines on Tuesday, signing a two-year contract with German Bundesliga club Hannover 96... Meanwhile, French national goalie Fabian Barthez, who lost his job at Manchester United to American Tim Howard, announced that he'd like to finish his career at French club Marseille, where he's been on loan since the first of the year... On the field, a couple of interesting Cup matches this midweek: Real Madrid, No. 1 in the world but second in their league, crushed Valencia, the team ahead of them in Spain, 3-0, despite having captain David Beckham ejected; and AC Milan tries today to beat Italian League leaders Roma for the third time in under three weeks.