Soccer Watch

The Austin Aztex opened their preseason Friday with a 2-0 win over Southwestern Univ. They play two more games this weekend: Incarnate Word on Friday, April 11, at 6:30pm at Ray Thomas Fields in Georgetown, and AC Milan on Sunday, April 13, at 4pm at Kelly Reeves Athlet­ic Complex, 10211 W. Parmer Ln. No, that's not an extremely belated April Fool's joke, but neither are Robinho and Mario Balotelli coming to town. This AC Milan is a local club that plays in the Liga Lempira, and that last weekend won the 25th annual Copa El Mundo, a four-team multileague invitational put on by the local Spanish-language paper El Mundo.

In Euro Champions League action this week, Chelsea overturned a two-goal deficit to oust Paris St. Germain; Real Madrid barely survived a two-goal comeback by Dortmund; Bayern Munich eased past Manchester United; and Atletico Madrid pulled what has to be considered a huge upset over Barcelona. Those four will face off April 22-23 and 29-30. ... Our continent's version, the CONCACAF Champions League, will be an all-Mexican affair, Toluca against either Tijuana or Cruz Azul (being decided at press time). ... TV pick of the weekend: Liverpool-Manchester City, 7:30am Sunday on NBCSN, with the winner in the driver's seat in the very tight English Premier League race. Liverpool, left for dead a couple of months ago, is playing some of the best soccer in the world right now. ... Nine weeks until the World Cup.