The 2007 season started in earnest this week as the European Champions League round of 16 kicked off. It’s a breakneck pace from here on: critical late-season league games on the weekend, cup competitions midweek, important showdown games every three days. It’s a heady time for football fans.
Liverpool‘s 2-1 shocker at Barcelona was the highlight of the ECL slate; see full results online.
The CONCACAF Champions Cup got under way Wednesday, as well. The Houston Dynamo survived a red card, an injured goalie, a penalty kick, and a disallowed goal before succumbing late, late in injury time to lose 1-0 to Costa Rica’s Puntarenas in the first leg of the Cup quarterfinal. At that, it was a decent result, under difficult road conditions. The Dynamo were still in preseason form, looking out-of-sync and out-of-shape against a young Tico squad that’s probably not as talented but thoroughly controlled the game. They’ll have to regroup quickly; the return leg is next Thursday, March 1, 8pm, at Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station. Tickets at Ticketmaster, or watch it live on FSC.
This article appears in February 23 • 2007.