Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., Nov. 20, 2015
Several international games were canceled in Europe this weekend, following Friday's terror attacks in Paris (which included a failed bombing attempt at the Stade de France, the French national soccer stadium), but London's Wembley Stadium was decked out in red, white, and bleu Tuesday night for the friendly match between England and France. Look up the video of 70,000 people singing "La Marseillaise"; it's maybe a best-ever rendition of one of the world's most iconic songs. The stirring refrain, and the opening lines promising that "the day of glory has arrived" – those are moving passages, even if you've never seen Casablanca. Less well known, but perhaps more chilling, is the rest of the first verse: "Do you hear, in the countryside, the roar of those ferocious soldiers? They're coming, right into your arms, to cut the throats of your sons, your women." Je suis Robespierre.
St. Edward's women beat Fort Lewis on penalty kicks in the NCAA first round, then ousted host and No. 1 seed Angelo State on Sunday, 1-0. They move on to face Heartland Conference rival Dallas Baptist in the round of 16, hoping that the fourth time's a charm – DBU has beaten them three times already this season. The game is 7pm Thursday in Bellingham, Wash., on the campus of top seed Western Washington, where the Hilltoppers' season came to an end last year... The St. Ed's men were knocked out by eighth-ranked Colorado School of Mines, 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The U.S. came through the first couple of games of World Cup qualifying fairly well, beating up on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 6-1, then settling for a scoreless draw at Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday. The campaign goes on hiatus until March, when the U.S. faces a decisive home-and-away against Guatemala. Elsewhere, Mexico and Costa Rica each won twice, and Canada got off to a good start with a win and draw against Honduras and El Salvador, respectively... Sweden, Hungary, Ukraine, and Ireland claimed the last four spots in next summer's Euro 2016 tournament.
The MLS conference finals start this Sunday, Nov. 22, with New York Red Bulls at the Columbus Crew, 4pm on ESPN, followed by FC Dallas at the Portland Timbers, 6:30pm on FS1. Return legs are the following Sunday, Nov. 29.
Next week marks the next-to-last games of the European Champions League group stage, Tue.-Wed, Nov. 24-25; various games are being shown live each day on ESPN and Fox Sports channels.
