England Is Premier

So once again England has put three teams into the Final Four of Champions League. It’s the second year running they’ve accomplished the feat. Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that no EPL team has been knocked out by a foreign team in that time.

Manchester United showed why they are the class they are going into the Estadio do Dragao and walking away with a rare road win thanks to another moment of brilliance from Cristiano Ronaldo. Having Rio back in the back was as important as CR7’s blast. But Porto never really threatened, save for a couple of Edwin van der Sar blunders. Think Sir Alex is happy he re-signed the Dutch vet at this point?

Arsenal joins them. And, really, after that choreography, how could they not? Though Bruce Arena can say he’s better than Arsene Wenger at one thing: celebrating a goal. The red to Eguren was probably a bit touchy, but after that dreadful penalty call -- not even Tim Weyland or Fabio Tovar would have called that -- he was probably the winner in getting to Villarreal’s shower before his teammates. It wasn’t the Yellow Submarine’s day at all.

Tuesday saw Barça cruise through, as we all thought they would. Liverpool and Chelsea, as I told Mark it would be, was a low scoring affair with the Blues scraping by. Oh wait, that’s right, my predictions are slightly worse than a weatherman’s. (Now, bring me some soup. What kind? CHUNKY!) The only thing I’ll say is this: if Peter Cech doesn’t sort himself out soon, we could see another 4-0 first half for Barça in the first leg, which will be played at the Nou Camp.

Other thoughts

- Red Bull Arena was topped off earlier this week. Not sure if that was with Stoli or Grey Goose. But you know D.C. United fans must be jealous and/or angry watching that place being built. I just wonder if they bothered putting in a trophy case or not.

- Alec Dufty (not Alex Duffy) was cut by those same Red Bulls just two days after deputizing for Danny Cepero, who left with a head injury early in the draw with Houston. New York fans may wonder if Cepero actually suffered that injury prior to the season. But, really, you have to think this makes life easier for Juan Carlos Osorio who can easily put Jon Conway back in the lineup as he returns from suspension. Now if he could just do that with a couple of guys on his back line.

- Anyone have seven teams with more points than Columbus and Houston COMBINED after four weeks? Houston are making this their MO with just one win in April since 2007. No worries there. Columbus are a few mental errors away from at least four more points. But with the discipline on display by Sigi’s side in Seattle, one has to wonder if Warzycha will be up to the task of righting the ship. Getting Chad Marshall back from his non-concussion head injury will be huge, but who knew trying to replace Brad Evans would be so tough?

- D.C. has a tough game this week on ESPN2. Not sure that RFK is having happy hour for the odd 7 o’clock start time on a Friday night. But New England, coming off a bye week, might have a few more bodies ready for this one. Though it sounds like Matt “Monkey Bear” Reis will not get the green light, much to the chagrin of the United faithful. Steve Ralston might get his first start, which bodes well for a Revs side that is still stingy on the defensive side despite losing Michael Parkhurst and missing Reis. Christian Gomez, who Steve Goff pointed out earlier this week is off to a slow start, shouldn’t rebound going against Shalrie Joseph. My guess -- which at this point is betting on snake eyes at a craps table -- is a 1-1 draw with New England scoring on a Crayton mistake while Ben Olsen knocks one in for the home side. What does that mean? Expect a 4-3 win for New England.

- Since Mark doesn’t have enough ammunition to give me a hard time, here’s another round of MLS predictions looking forward to the weekend. Home teams listed first, as always.

New York v. Real Salt Lake: RSL continues NY’s woes in beating them for the first time. Welcome back Jon Conway. RSL 2-0

Chicago v. Kansas City: Game of the week for me. Davy Arnaud needs help in attack and won’t get it against the Fire. Will Hamlett be smart and finally start Blanco and Rolfe? He better. Chicago 2-1

San Jose v. Los Angeles: Another Cali derby, another game L.A. doesn’t win. Is that seat warming up Bruce? If the Quakes could only finish they’d win. San Jose 1, Los Angeles 1

Chivas USA v. Seattle: Seattle’s never lost on the road. Ever. In that one game. They will in this one without Kasey in goal. Chivas 1, Seattle 0

Dallas v. Toronto: Hey, it’s at night so the 4,000 people that show up won’t get a burned. The eleven on the field will, though. Toronto 2-0

Houston v. Colorado: There’s gotta be more than one tie, right? Why not this one on a crap field? Just don’t ever bet against Conor Casey. Tied 1-1

So there ya go. Eventually my record will even out. Or my paycheck from Mark will stop coming. Which after Tax Day probably won’t be happening anyway.

- Pat Walsh