Soccer Watch

The Austin Aztex added another promising young striker this week: 22-year-old Maxwell Griffin, brother of Aztex defender Leonard Griffin and a two-time leading scorer and Offensive MVP at UCLA. They released forward Leonel Saint-Preux and backup keeper Ben Dragovon "after failing to pass physicals due to pre-existing conditions." The Aztex are on the road this week for their last two preseason matches – at the PDL's Lare­do Heat, Friday, March 26, 7:30pm, and at FC Dallas Wed­nes­day, March 31, noon – before the first home game at House Park Sunday, April 11, 6pm, against the Montreal Impact. See www.austinaztex.com for info and season tickets.

That midweek game is odd for Dallas, who will have already started their Major League Soccer season this Saturday, hosting the Houston Dynamo. The MLS season opener pits the league's two newest teams, the Seattle Sounders and Philadelphia Union, this Thursday, March 25, 8:30pm, on ESPN2.

Over in Europe, there's just a couple of months left in the season – and for the first time in memory, there are serious title chases going on in every major league, headlined by neck-and-neck three-way races in England, Italy, and Germany, a dead heat in Spain between ancient rivals Barcelona and Madrid, and a six-way free-for-all in the French Ligue 1 – with no more than a point separating the leaders in any of the five. And with both ESPN and the Fox networks having greatly expanded their coverage this year, fans can see those leagues in action just about every day this Spring... Meanwhile the European Champions League is more up in the air than it's been in a long time – with six different countries represented in a final eight that's been dominated for years by England, Spain, and Italy. Those games get under way Tuesday-Wednesday, March 30-31, 1:45pm, live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Tuesday: Manchester United-Bayern Munich and Lyon-Bordeaux; Wednesday: Barcelona-Arsenal and Inter Milan-CSKA Moscow.

In the CONCACAF Champions League, Mexican clubs last week claimed all four semifinal spots. Columbus' loss at Toluca was the 20th straight failure for MLS clubs in competitive games on Mexican soil.