Soccer Watch

In European Champions League action this week, English clubs continued to thrive, and Italians continued to melt down, as the last of the 16 teams got into action in the knockout round. Chelsea won 2-0 at Copen­hagen; Manchester United's scoreless draw at Marseille was the only nonvictory for the four English entrants. On the other end of the spectrum, Inter Milan's 0-1 loss to Bayern Munich leaves all three Italian teams with a home loss to make up for on the road. There's now a week off from European play before the first-round return legs, March 8-9 and March 15-16.

The schedule for the U.S. Open Cup – open theoretically to every pro and amateur team in the country – was announced last week. Notably absent were the teams of the new professional "second division," the North American Soccer League (basically the teams the Austin Aztex played against the last two years), which had not received sanctioning by the United States Soccer Federation by deadline. NASL officials said they were disappointed, but not concerned, amid all the work of getting the new league up and running. But the omission seems to validate the decision by the Aztex – now Orlando City – to buck the NASL trend and stay with the United Soccer Leagues' USL PRO league, all 11 U.S. teams of which are in the Open Cup.

It took two overtime goals, but the U.S. men's U-17 team qualified for this year's U-17 FIFA World Cup, by edging El Salvador, 3-2, in the regional tournament Tuesday. The U.S. is the only team to qualify for all 14 editions of the tournament.

Meanwhile in South Africa, the Premier Soccer League's Disciplinary Commit­tee has summoned the Orlando Pirates to answer to charges of spectator misbehavior at its stadium, following a Jan. 19 incident "where Orlando Pirates spectators behaved in a disorderly manner in that after the final whistle they threw porridge at the match official." The hearing takes place today, Feb. 24.