GAMES: CONCACAF Return Legs; A Couple Warm-Ups

As we wait for the second legs of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals, some stories are coming in to help us figure what to expect. Naturally, the bigger news surrounds the Houston Dynamo, who have the harder challenge after dropping the first leg 1-0 to Puntarenas FC. As for DC United versus CD Olimpia, Steve Goff may not have intended the comment in this vein, but the weather differential between DC and Honduras may actually be the most intriguing thing to discuss while we wait on this one.

With regard to Houston, though, bad headlines aside - e.g. "Kinnear Eager to Host Return"; of course he is... - even the articles beneath them contain clues of what to expect. For instance, both the dubiously headlined article linked to above and Glenn Davis' "Soccer Notebook" contain hints to what will look different:

"'That field in Costa Rica took a lot away from our game, it took away our wide play,' Kinnear said."

And that's when the Costa Ricans get to scribbling in their notepads. To his credit, Davis also takes frustrated fans to task for failing to understand that crappy fields and dodgy refereeing are part of soccer in Central America. Here, we have low attendance, widespread disinterest, etc., but the fields, have you seen those fields?

In all seriousness, looking forward to Thursday more than I did to junior prom...and senior prom for that matter.

In other news, the Los Angeles Galaxy got something positive out of their trip to Bermuda (after losing the mighty, mighty New England Revolution) when they beat the "Bermuda Select" team by a score of 4-0. Moving to the other tenant of the Home Depot Center, Chivas USA put out the Fuego by an even bigger scoreline (and I'm so, so pleased to have the opportunity to insert cheese into a post). And, no, this means nothing for the regular season, but they're at least winning like they should against weaker opposition.

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