Futbol Notebook: Europa, Europa

It may seem hard to believe for people in Antwerp, Belgium, or Zagreb, Croatia, but soccer is gradually becoming more popular here in the United States. In fact, futbol has entered our pop culture as the late Naser Hejazi, the goalie for the 1978 Iranian World Cup team which played in Argentina, was mentioned in the last episode of "Homeland."

Since 24 games were played in the Europa League yesterday, we don't have much time for detail or analysis. But, we caught the tail-end of the Swansea-Kuban game. The English Premiere League team Swansea was winning 1-0 until the team's German goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel (pictured here) collided with a player for the Russian team Kuban in the (ouch!) 92nd minute of play. As a result, French national Djibril Cisse kicked in the penalty and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Here are some partial scores from Europe League play:

Lyon (France) 1 Rijeka (Croatia) 0

Swansea (England) 1 Kuban (Russia) 1 (tie)

Anzhi (Russia) 1 Tromso (Norway) 0

Waregem (Belgium) 1 Maribor (Slovenia) 3

Shanktar Karagandy (Kazakhstan) 2 AZ Alkmaar (Neth.) 1 (tie)

Apollon Limassol (Cyprus) 0 Lazio (Italy) 0 (tie)

For more results, check out our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time":

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com