Soccer Watch

Euro2004 opened with two memorable games in the first two days, as host Portugal dug itself into a hole with a 2-1 loss to underdog Greece, and Zinedine Zidane netted two injury-time goals for France within a minute to push the defending champs past England, 2-1. The hosts came back to knock Russia out of the tourney on Wednesday but will still need to beat Spain this weekend to survive the first round. Results so far (top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals):

Group A: Greece 2, Portugal 1; Spain 1, Russia 0;

Spain 1, Greece 1; Portugal 2, Russia 0

Group B: Switzerland 0, Croatia 0; France 2, England 1

Group C: Denmark 0, Italy 0; Sweden 5, Bulgaria 0

Group D: Czech Republic 2, Latvia 1; Germany 1, Holland 1

Joke of the week: "You know why women like English football players?" "Because, even after staying on top for 90 minutes, they still come second." Sorry.

The U.S. men opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Grenada; the return match in St. George's is this Sunday, June 20, 3pm on ESPN2.

Closer to home, Mexico's WC bid gets underway this Saturday at 7pm at the Alamodome in San Antonio; in their first-ever visit to the Alamo City, they face Domenica. TicketMaster has tickets.

In the Copa Libertadores, the South American championship, the semifinal second leg matches are this Wednesday and Thursday, after press time. Unheralded Once Caldas of Columbia host Brazilians Sao Paolo, after holding them to a scoreless draw last week in Rio. On the other side, bitter Argentine rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors meet again after Boca took the first leg, 1-0, in a game that featured a full-on brawl, three ejections, and midgame stitches for the Boca goalkeeper.

The Austin Lightning dropped a pair of games last weekend in Louisiana: 3-1 to the Lafayette Swamp Cats, and a 4-3 overtime thriller to the New Orleans Shell Shockers; they're on the road again this weekend before returning for a five-game homestand.