Soccer Update

There's about one month left in the European soccer season, so this is a good time to recap where everything stands:

European Cup

We're down to the Semi-Finals in the UEFA Champions' League -- the biggest club competition in the world (with the possible exception of the NFL). These matches will be played in two legs starting next week, with the winners advancing to the final at Wembley on May 28.

In one semi-final, Manchester United will be playing Schalke 04 of Germany. United will be heavily favored in this match. To be honest, Schalke are not very good -- they are currently in 10th place in the German league, and they have been pretty lucky in their draw so far. Sir Alex usually does not lose this type of match.

The second semi-final features one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports: Barcelona v. Real Madrid. These are probably the two best teams in Europe, they really and truly hate each other, and to top it all off, Real Madrid is managed by Jose Mourinho, who upset Barcelona in the semi-finals last year when he was coaching Internazionale of Milan. We are very lucky that this is the semi-final, because each team will get a home game and the 180 minutes of playing time will probably prevent Real Madrid from just sitting on the ball and hoping for penalty kicks -- which is how most people play Barca. In my opinion, Barca is the best team in the world, but Mourinho is the best manager of the world, and I would not be surprised if he pulls off the upset for the second year in a row.

The winner of the Barca/Real Madrid match will beat United in the final.

English Premier League

United has just about locked this up. The real drama is in the battle for fourth, where Man City is trying to hold off Spurs and a red-hot Liverpool team:

1. Man Utd: 21-3-10 (73 pts)
2. Chelsea: 20-7-7 (67 pts)
3. Arsenal: 18-6-10 (64 pts)
4. Man City: 16-8-8 (56 pts)
5. Spurs: 14-6-13 (55 pts)
6. Liverpool: 15-12-7 (52 pts)

FA Cup

This has been a pretty entertaining year for the F.A. Cup. Liverpool went out to Man Utd by 1-0 in the round of 64. Chelsea lost to Everton on penalty kicks in the round of 32. Spurs lost at Fulham in the same round. Arsenal lost at Man Utd 2-0 in the quarter-finals. But then Man Utd lost to Man City 1-0 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Stoke City had the draw of its dreams. The Potters only had to beat Cardiff City (2d division), Wolves (battling relegation from the Premier League), Brighton & Hove Albion (3d division), West Ham Utd (battling relegation from the Premier League), and Bolton Wanderers (8th place in the Premier League) to reach the finals for the first time.

The big clubs like Man Utd and Chelsea care more about winning the European Cup or the Premier League than the F.A. Cup, so there's always a bunch of worry in the British press that they don't really care about the Cup. That will not be a problem in this year's final. Neither Man City nor Stoke have had much success for the past several decades, so one team's fans will be REALLY happy after the final on May 14th. Man City's record in the Premier League is 16-8-8, while Stoke is only 11-16-6, so City will be a heavy favorite. But the perpetually gloomy City fans will not be convinced until they actually have the Cup in their hands for the first time since 1969.

Scottish Premier League

Some years Celtic runs away with the SPL, some years Rangers runs away with it, and some years it is close. This year it is close. Rangers have 81 points from 34 games (26-5-3), while Celtic have 80 points from 33 games (25-3-5). Celtic should be able to win out and take the title. But in Scotland, this season will be mainly remembered for the bombs that were recently sent to Celtic's manager and key supporters. There will be a great deal of hand-wringing over the ethnic and religious hatred that surrounds the Old Firm rivalry -- and then, probably, very little will be done about it.

Scottish F.A. Cup

This tournament is usually decided by whoever wins between Celtic and Rangers. I always root for them to meet in the final, but this year they met in the round of 16. Celtic won on a replay, 1-0, and in so doing probably clinched the Cup. They need only beat Motherwell in the final on May 21. To put this in perspective, Celtic's record in Scotland is 25-3-5; Motherwell's record is 13-15-6. So Celtic will be heavy favorites.