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The wonderful world of soccer is getting quite interesting.
In the World Cup qualifying round, the U.S. is on top of the
CONCACAF (American Federation of Soccer) final round. This
comes after a 2-0 win for the U.S. against Mexico in Columbus,
Ohio on Feb. 28, a valuable victory for the team. Mexico will
be more difficult to beat in their next game against the U.S.
in Mexico City.
 The
U.S. also beat Honduras 2-1 on March 28 in San Pedro Sula.
This sets up an interesting match against Costa Rica on April
25 in Kansas City. Costa Rica is currently second in the standings,
having already tied Jamaica 2-2 and beaten Trinidad &
Tobago 3-0. Should the U.S. win or tie, they will remain at
number one. A Costa Rica victory would place them at number
one.
Mexico, currently third in the standings, beat Jamaica 4-0
on March 25 in Mexico City, but with their loss to the U.S.
they now have 3 points, not enough to overtake the U.S. or
Costa Rica in April. They should, however, still be considered
the U.S. team's biggest competition for the number one spot.
Three teams from CONCACAF will qualify.
Tickets
to the U.S. v Costa Rica game can be purchased through the
U.S. Soccer Federation's web page at www.us-soccer.com.
The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and Telemundo. It
starts at 6:30 pm Central Time. Trinidad & Tobago v Mexico
will air live on Univision at 3 pm Central Time.
The
qualifying competition is also getting interesting in other
parts of the world. Unfortunately these games are rarely televised
in the U.S. If you're interested in the standings in Europe,
South America, Asia, Africa, or North America (Oceania has
yet to begin its qualifying competition), FIFA, soccer's world
governing body, has a nice web page at www.fifa.com.
In
addition to the World Cup qualifying, April 6th will be the
5th anniversary of the USA's Major League Soccer. San Jose
won the first game in the league's history by a score of 1-0
over DC United on that date back in 1996. The 6th MLS season
will begin on April 7th, with all 12 teams playing. Chicago
at Columbus will be televised on ESPN2 at 6:30 pm Central
Time. 
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