Soccer Watch

The Austin Bold FC kicks off a new era in Austin soccer this Saturday, March 30, hosting San Antonio FC to inaugurate Bold Stadium at Circuit of the Americas, the first purpose-built soccer stadium in Central Texas. This'll be the first time Austin and San Antonio pro teams have ever met in a regular season game, and also their first-ever Copa Tejas game – a new competition driven by supporters of the four Texas USL Championship teams (San Antonio FC, Austin Bold FC, Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, and El Paso Locomotive FC), with the trophy going to the team with the most points in games between the Texas rivals throughout the season. Ticket packages and single game tickets are available starting at $15 at AustinBoldFC.com.

For those of you awaiting Major League Soccer, Austin FC this week announced the design and construction team for their stadium at McKalla Place near the Domain: Gensler is lead architect, and the construction manager will be Austin Commercial, known locally for their work on the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Long Center for the Performing Arts.

The U.S. men continue to progress under new coach Gregg Berhalter, earning a 1-0 win over Ecuador and a tough 1-1 draw with Chile in the last international games before this summer's Gold Cup. The downside: possibly serious injuries to young attacking stars Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie; the latter is expected to be out for the rest of the Bundesliga season... Next week, it's the women's turn, taking on Australia (Thu., April 4, 9:30pm) on their way to the Women's World Cup, starting June 7 in France.