Lightning Win Home Opener and More

Sometime last Saturday night at House Park, the Austin Lightning's Fanáticos drum section tabbed midfielder Nick Torres with a new nickname: "Bazooka." Torres' rocket-powered right foot nailed two kicks to bring the Lightning from behind to beat New Orleans 3-1: a screaming, 25-yard free kick into the upper corner of the net, which the keeper didn't even move on, and a nicely executed indirect free kick, as Marcel Uriarte tapped the spot kick to just outside the defensive wall and Torres banged it into the bottom corner. The insurance goal came from 17-year-old Ross Burki, who ran onto the field as a late sub in his first Premier Development League game ever, kept running down the sideline, took a drop pass from Uriarte, and hit net, even before the announcer had a chance to announce the substitution. What a debut! The Lightning are on the road in Dallas this weekend; the next home game is in two weeks against the Laredo Heat.

Sevilla won their second straight UEFA Cup title on Wednesday, beating fellow Spaniards Espanyol in a penalty-kick shoot-out after an electrifying, end-to-end 2-2 draw through regulation and overtime. The defending champs went up 2-1 early in overtime, before 10-man Espanyol got a tying goal late to force the shoot-out.

The English FA Cup final (Chelsea-Manchester United) is Saturday morning, with a 10am kickoff. It's pay-per-view only, so Fadó ought to be hopping. This traditional English season finale – the first major game in the long-awaited new Wembley Stadium – features two teams with a lot left to prove – even if they'd both rather be in next Wednesday's Champions League final. New champ Man U can confirm their dominance with a second major trophy; the dethroned Blues need to salvage one to save a season. Both of them were dreaming of more just a few weeks ago.

Then next week is the Champions League final, live from Athens on ESPN2, 1:25pm Wednesday, May 23. The European club championship is a rematch of the brilliant final from two years ago, between AC Milan and Liverpool, when the Italians went up 3-0 in the first half, only to have the Reds come back to tie, and eventually win in penalties. Needless to say, the Italians will be spoiling for revenge.

Bob Bradley was officially named head coach of the U.S. men's national team on Wednesday; he's been carrying the "interim" title since replacing Bruce Arena late last year. It's about time.

Elsewhere in Europe, the season is drawing rapidly to a close. And if many of the top prizes are already decided, here are a few places where races are still going on:

Spain, where Barcelona slumped to a home draw last week, and with four games to go, find themselves out of the top spot for the first time since January. The new leaders: Real Madrid, who looked left for dead just a few weeks back, before getting an unlikely boost from the even-more-left-for-dead David "Galaxy" Beckham. Sevilla and Valencia are in the mix as well, just two and four points back, respectively.

Germany, where Werder Bremen completed their collapse over the last month, leaving the title race to Stuttgart and Schalke going into the final weekend.

Italy, where there are eight teams bunched within three points of the last relegation spot, with just two games left to play. The top end is pretty well sorted out, with Inter Milan champions, Roma second, AC Milan and Lazio tied for third and fourth, and Fiorentina, Empoli, and Palermo looking solid for the UEFA Cup spots.