UEFA Cup picks

Comcast experienced a "national internet outage"the last couple of nights, so no posts. I'll have several posts up tomorrow if they get off their asses and fix the damn thing.

But before then: European soccer. Chelsea have to be considered the favorite right now in the Big Cup. Inter probably won't play in Europe next year, but read this article and tell me that there isn't a problem with Italian calcio throughout. And finally: c'mon DaMarcus - straight up the middle when you could've clinched it? I hope Arena was watching in case we came down to PKs in Germany. Put him up there early, if at all.

So far in UEFA: 17/50 right result (weak). 4 right scorelines. 12/23 right advancing.

Today:

AZ Alkmaar v. Villareal: 2-0, AZ advance. AZ haven't lost at home in a European match in like 40 years. They've definitely surprised me this entire tournament. Villareal has to be disappointed.

Auxerre v. CSKA Moscow: 1-0, and I'm stuck with an Auxerre pick (though I did say CSKA might put up an insurmoutable number, which they of course did). CSKA haven't gotten much respect from bookies or pundits. Because playing in Moscow is a huge advantage (though getting less so as Spring arrives), they might just make the final.

Parma v. FK Austria Wien: 0-0, Parma advance. I've been burned every round by Austria. Their nice run ends now.

Sporting Lisbon v. Newcastle United: 2-0, Sporting advance. I'm now pretty certain that these are the two best teams left in the competition. Sporting have to be considered a prohibitive favorite to win it all after they go through today.

I'll be back tonight with plenty of good stuff...