The NCAA Women’s Final Four is this weekend, with all three games televised on ESPN2. It’s a semifinal doubleheader on Friday afternoon – UCLA vs. Princeton at 1pm, and Notre Dame vs. Santa Clara at 3:30 – with the championship game at noon on Sunday. This will be the first time in the 23-year history of the sport that North Carolina has missed the Final Four. The Men’s Final Four follows the next weekend; already eliminated are No. 1 Wake Forest, host UCLA, and Texas’ lone entry, SMU.
The European Champions League group stage comes to a close on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 7 and 8, with seven spots in the round of 16 still up for grabs. The ESPN game of the week should be dramatic: Roma will host Real Madrid (ESPN2, Wed., Dec. 8, 1:30pm) in a cavernous, completely deserted Olimpico Stadium – part of a penalty handed down after Roma fans injured the referee at halftime of an earlier match. Roma, already eliminated and suffering through a miserable, scandal-ridden season, nevertheless will relish the chance to take overstuffed Real down with them. An Italian win or even draw would send the Spaniards home in disgrace and put Bayer Leverkusen into the final 16 instead.
You can bet Landon Donovan will be watching that game. He’ll join Leverkusen in January, after being on loan to the MLS San Jose Earthquakes for the past four years. If the German club does make it into the next round of Champs League play, Donovan will join his pal DaMarcus Beasley, who has played a key role for PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch club’s somewhat surprising run into the round of 16.
FOX Soccer Channel? Various sources report that Fox Sports World will switch to an all-soccer format early next year. Indeed, they’ve already trademarked the name.
This article appears in December 3 • 2004.