The Austin Lightning are on a long road trip this weekend, at Baton Rouge and Mississippi, before starting a three-week homestand June 15-16.
ESPN Deportes Radio 1260AM is hosting their first Copa 1260 tournament, billed as featuring eight all-star teams culled from eight different local adult leagues. Should be interesting to see a variety of styles of play. Sunday, June 10, 9am-5pm, Southeast Metropolitan Park, out Highway 71 West, three miles past Bergstrom.
The U.S. men beat China, 4-1 Saturday night, while getting to use a lot of young players; they open their Gold Cup title defense this week with the full squad: Thursday 8pm, Guatemala; Saturday 4pm, Trinidad; Tuesday 6pm, El Salvador; all games live on the Fox Soccer Channel.
No huge surprises in the Euro2008 qualifiers Saturday and Wednesday – unless you count Copenhagen, where a drunken fan ran on the field, tried to punch the ref, and caused the home team to forfeit a game they had fought back from a 3-0 deficit to tie. I’m guessing that fellow will be lying low for a while. Elsewhere, England got another great game from (Sir?) David Beckham and a needed win in Estonia; pretty much all the other heavyweights held serve, and the European season is now really over – except in Spain, where play resumes this week with two games to play, and a three-team logjam at the top of the standings. Full Euro results below.
Group A
Saturday, June 2
Kazakhstan 1, Armenia 2
Azerbaijan 1, Poland 3
Belgium 1, Portugal 2
Finland 0, Serbia 2
Wednesday, June 6
Kazakhstan 1, Azerbaijan 1
Armenia 1, Poland 0
Finland 2, Belgium 0
Group B
Saturday, June 2
Lithuania 1, Georgia 0
Faroe Islands 1, Italy 2
France 2, Ukraine 0
Wednesday, June 6
Faroe Islands 0, Scotland 2
Lithuania 0, Italy 2
France 1, Georgia 0
Group C
Saturday, June 2
Norway 4, Malta 0
Greece 2, Hungary 0
Bosnia-Herzegovina 3, Turkey 2
Wednesday, June 6
Norway 4, Hungary 0
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1, Malta 0
Greece 2, Moldova 1
Group D
Saturday, June 2
Wales 0, Czech Repub. 0
Germany 6, San Marino 0
Wednesday, June 6
Germany 2, Slovakia 1
Group E
Saturday, June 2
Russia 4, Andorra 0
Macedonia FYR 1, Israel 2
Estonia 0, Croatia 1
Wednesday, June 6
Andorra 0, Israel 2
Croatia 0, Russia 0
Estonia 0, England 3
Group F Saturday, June 2
Iceland 1, Liechtenstein 1
Denmark 0, Sweden 3 (forfeit)
Latvia 0, Spain 2
Wednesday, June 6
Sweden 5, Iceland 0
Latvia 0, Denmark 2
Liechtenstein 0, Spain 2
Group G
Saturday, June 2
Belarus 0, Bulgaria 2
Albania 2, Luxembourg 0
Slovenia 1, Romania 2
Wednesday, June 6
Bulgaria 2, Belarus 1
Romania 2, Slovenia 0
Luxembourg 0, Albania 3
Standings
Games Played – W-D-L – Points
(Sorry about the formatting)
Group A GP W D L P
1 Poland 8 6 1 2 19
2 Portugal 7 4 2 1 14
3 Serbia 7 4 2 1 14
4 Finland 8 4 2 2 14
5 Belgium 8 2 1 5 7
6 Armenia 7 2 1 4 7
7 Kazakhstan 8 1 2 4 6
8 Azerbaijan 8 1 1 5 5
Group B GP W D L P
1 France 7 6 0 1 18
2 Italy 7 5 1 1 16
3 Scotland 7 5 0 2 15
4 Ukraine 6 4 0 2 12
5 Lithuania 7 2 1 4 7
6 Georgia 8 2 0 6 6
7 Faroe Isl. 8 0 0 8 0
Group C GP W D L P
1 Greece 7 6 0 1 18
2 Turkey 6 4 1 1 13
3 Bosnia-Herz. 7 4 1 2 13
4 Norway 7 4 1 2 13
5 Hungary 7 2 0 5 6
6 Malta 7 1 1 5 4
7 Moldova 7 0 2 13 2
Group D GP W D L P
1 Germany 7 6 1 0 19
2 Czech Republic 7 4 2 1 14
3 Ireland 7 4 1 2 13
4 Slovakia 7 3 0 4 9
5 Wales 6 2 1 3 7
6 Cyprus 6 1 1 4 4
7 San Marino 6 0 0 6 0
Group E GP W D L P
1 Croatia 7 5 2 0 17
2 Israel 8 5 2 1 17
3 Russia 7 4 3 0 15
4 England 7 4 2 1 14
5 Macedonia 7 2 1 4 7
6 Estonia 7 0 0 7 0
7 Andorra 7 0 0 7 0
Group F GP W D L P
1 Sweden 7 6 0 1 18
2 Spain 7 5 0 2 15
3 North Ireland 6 4 1 1 13
4 Denmark 6 3 1 2 10
5 Liechtenstein 7 1 1 5 4
6 Iceland 7 1 1 5 4
7 Latvia 6 1 0 5 3
Group G GP W D L P
1 Romania 7 5 2 0 17
2 Bulgaria 7 4 3 0 15
3 Netherlands 6 4 2 0 14
4 Albania 7 2 3 2 9
5 Belarus 7 2 1 4 7
6 Slovenia 7 1 1 5 4
7 Luxembourg 7 0 0 7 0
This article appears in June 1 • 2007.