https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/sports/2007-10-17/551852/

Bye-Bye, Win Streaks; Bye-Bye, Brits

By Nick Barbaro, October 17, 2007, 5:32pm, The Score

The UT and St. Edward's women each had eight-game unbeaten streaks snapped this weekend. The Longhorns lost at Texas A&M, 2-0 on Friday, before beating Big 12 cellar-dweller Baylor on Sunday, 1-0. The Hilltoppers (whose streak was actually eight straight shutout wins) lost Sunday to Incarnate Word.

UT dropped to sixth in the latest coaches poll; St. Ed's fell all the way from seventh to 19th in Div. II.

Both are at home this weekend, St. Ed's hosting UT-Permian Basin at 1pm Saturday, and UT facing No. 16 Missouri Friday at 7pm ($3 web coupon, plus lots of kids activities on tap), and Kansas at 1pm Sunday.

Black Wednesday for British football, as both England and Scotland suffered big upsets in Euro2008 qualifying – England bowing to Russia, 2-1, and Scotland falling to upstart Georgia, 2-0. Neither now looks likely to make it to the quadrennial continental championship next summer. Full results and analysis below. …

This week the Euro focus shifts back to the clubs, with Champions League games midweek. ESPN2 has Barcelona at Glasgow Rangers on Tuesday, and Schalke 04 at Chelsea on Wednesday, both at 1:30pm. …

South America kicked off its marathon World Cup 2010 qualification process last weekend. Results below.

So, how lame is this? The MLS regular season comes down to the last game, with four teams still battling for playoff spots, a head-to-head between the Houston Dynamo and Chivas USA for the Western Conference title, David Beckham perhaps set up to perform off-the-deathbed heroics for the suddenly resurgent L.A. Galaxy – and the league can't even get a game onto expanded cable? The season ending Galaxy at Chicago Fire game – Beckham against Cuauhtemoc Blanco, one goes on, one goes home – is on Telemundo at 2pm Sunday.

Oh, and since I know many of you are fans of the oval-ball version of football as well, I'll remind you that the Rugby World Cup final – England-South Africa, is this Saturday, 2pm Central.

Euro2008 Qualifying
Game Results from Wednesday, Oct. 17
Top two teams in each group advance to Finals
Group A
Kazakhstan 1, Portugal 2
Azerbaijan 1, Serbia 6
Belgium 3, Armenia 0
Portugal, though they haven't been playing well, have restored order to a relatively weak group; they and leaders Poland look fairly safe now.

Group B
Ukraine 5, Faroe Islands 0
Georgia 2, Scotland 0
France 2, Lithuania 0
Poor Scots, who've looked great all year, were flummoxed by Georgia's youth corps: two 17-year-olds, a 16-year-old, and a 17-year-old goalie in his first international game, who's never even played yet for his club team, the not-exactly-feared Dinamo Tbilisi. Ach. France left it late, but two 80th-minute Thierry Henry goals give them the inside track for one spot; Scotland now must beat Italy next month to edge them for the other one.

Group C
Malta 2, Moldova 3
Turkey 0, Greece 1
Bosnia-Herzegovina 0, Norway 2
Greece, who didn't even qualify for the last WC, save their best for this tournament. They're in; Norway at Turkey on Nov. 17 will decide second place.

Group D
San Marino 1, Wales 2
Ireland 1, Cyprus 1
Germany 0, Czech Republic 3
Germany was the first team to clinch a spot; still an 0-3 home result is embarrassing. Czechs have now clinched, as well.

Group E
Russia 2, England 1
Macedonia 3, Andorra 0
England must now beat Croatia next month, and also hope for Russia to falter against either Israel, or (ahem) Andorra.

Group F
Denmark 3, Latvia 1
Liechtenstein 3, Iceland 0
Sweden 1, Northern Ireland 1
Valiant Northern Ireland keep a lifeline with a late equalizer in Sweden; but Swedes and Spain are now almost a lock for the two qualifying spots.

Group G
Luxembourg 0, Romania 2
Netherlands 2, Slovenia 0
Albania 1, Bulgaria 1
Holland and Romania, clearly the class of this group, finally get a little distance from the chasing Bulgarians, thanks to a gritty performance by Albania, a minnow no more.

Final game days are Nov. 17, Nov. 21

World Cup 2010 Qualifying – South America
Results from the first two game days

Uruguay 5, Bolivia 0
Argentina 2, Chile 0
Ecuador 0, Venezuela 1
Peru 0, Paraguay 0
Colombia 0, Brazil 0
Venezuela 0, Argentina 2