Soccer Watch

High school playoffs continue this weekend. Locally, Dripping Springs plays Hays in the 4A Girls Regional Final, and Leander Vista Ridge plays New Braunfels Canyon in the Boys 4A Regional Final on Friday; no local 5A schools made the third round. The UIL State Championships are next Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12, at the Round Rock ISD Athletic Stadium complex at 10211 W. Parmer.

The Houston Dynamo lost their Major League Soccer opener, 3-0, to New England; they host Costa Rica's Saprissa in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal, Wednesday night as we go to press. Mexican champion Pachuca beat D.C. United, 2-0, in the other semi on Tuesday; return legs are April 9, live on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Mexico fired coach Hugo Sanchez on Monday after only 16 months on the job, two weeks after the U-23 team failed to qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and just three months before the tricolores open their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Champions League quarterfinals this week, and Manchester United continues to look like the best team in the world, shutting out Roma, 2-0, in Rome; elsewhere, it was Arsenal 1, Liverpool 1; Fenerbahce 2, Chelsea 1; and Schalke 0, Barcelona 1. The return legs are Tuesday-Wednesday, April 8-9, live on ESPN2, 1:30pm.