Soccer Watch

Paul Dalglish (Photo courtesy of the Austin Aztex)

The Austin Aztex introduced their new coach on Wednesday: Paul Dalglish, a 34-year-old Glaswegian who played at the highest levels in Scotland and England, won the MLS Cup with the Houston Dyna­mo in 2006, and has coached for the Dynamo and Tampa Bay Rowdies before becoming director of soccer at the Lake Travis Youth Association and their Dynamo Juniors program earlier this year. His father, Kenny Dalglish, was one of the best strikers of his generation, beloved by fans of Scot­land, Celtic, and Liverpool alike and the current Liverpool coach. The Aztex also announced that they'll field a Super 20 youth team, along with the flagship PDL squad. Info on tryouts, and a stadium announcement, should follow anon; see that news here, or at www.austinaztex.com.

The UT Longhorns and St. Edward's Hilltoppers both bowed out of the NCAAs with 1-0 first-round losses last weekend.

The MLS Cup final – Houston Dynamo at Los Angeles Galaxy – is Sunday, Nov. 20, 8pm on ESPN. As much as I admire the Dynamo, I can't see LA losing at home for the first time all year... The next-to-last games in the European Champions League group stage are this Tuesday-Wed­nes­­day, Nov. 22-23 (live on FSC, 1:45pm).

The U.S. national team had their first encouraging offensive performance of the Jurgen Klinsmann era, beating Sloven­ia, 3-2, on Tuesday. That same day, Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, and the Czech Repub­lic became the final teams to qualify for the 2012 Euro Champion­ships (the strongest field of any tournament, ever); Argentina got untracked in World Cup Qualifying; and tiny Antigua & Barbuda, featuring a nucleus of players from USL PRO, won their qualifying group over favored Haiti to advance into next summer's semifinal WCQ round against the USA, Jamaica, and Guatemala. Go Hoppers!