Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., April 14, 2017
A bombshell in the European Champions League quarterfinals Tuesday: Three actually – literal bombshells, exploded next to the Borussia Dortmund team bus, wrecking the bus, hospitalizing one player, and causing a postponement of the game with Monaco (replayed the next day with the visitors winning, 3-2). Elsewhere, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, and Real Madrid all scored first leg wins. The return legs are Tue. & Wed., April 18 & 19: Real Madrid-Bayern Munich and Leicester-Atlético Madrid on Tue.; Barcelona-Juventus and Monaco-Dortmund on Wed. All at 1:45pm on Fox Sports.
The U.S., Canada, and Mexico announced plans to submit a unified bid to host the 2026 World Cup, with 60 games in the U.S., and 10 each in Canada and Mexico. U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said President Donald Trump "is fully supportive and encouraged us in having this joint bid. He is especially pleased that Mexico is part of this bid." The bid would appear to be a shoo-in; Morocco is the only other nation that's expressed any interest in bidding.
The UIL high school state tournament is going on all day Thu.-Sat., April 13-15, at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown: The semifinals are Thursday (5A) and Friday (6A), with the finals on Saturday: 11am, 1:30, 4, & 6:30pm. The Leander Vandegrift and Pflugerville Hendrickson girls both qualified in 6A; they play Friday at 9:30am and noon, respectively. Full schedule at www.uiltexas.org/soccer/state.
