Columbus Crew

Barcelona's Lionel Messi scored twice to become the first player since 1973 with 60 goals in a season for a club in a major European soccer league, leading his team to a 4-1 road win over Zaragoza. The last to reach 60 was Bayern Munich's Gerd Mueller with 67 in 1972-73. In the English Premier League, American striker Clint Dempsey scored twice as Fulham beat host Bolton Wanderers, 3-0. Elsewhere, Sunderland's Craig Gardner made a brilliant late tackle on a goal-bound Gareth Bale to preserve a 0-0 tie and weaken the visiting Spurs' top-four status.

Union midfielder Brian Carroll kept an impressive postseason streak alive when the Union qualified for their first-ever Major League Soccer playoff berth. Now in his ninth MLS season and first with the Union, Carroll has been a member of teams that qualified for the postseason each year. While he didn't play in the playoffs his first year with D.C. United in 2003, since then he has appeared in 18 playoff games and started each one. Carroll was on two MLS Cup champions, with D.C. United in 2004 and the Columbus Crew in 2008.

A CORONER said signs pointed to "an apparent natural death" pending results from toxicology tests and on other tissue after an autopsy performed on Columbus Crew midfielder Kirk Urso on Monday. The 22-year-old Urso was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m. Sunday at Grant Medical Center after collapsing at a downtown Columbus bar and restaurant. Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak said toxicology tests will not be finalized for 4 to 6 weeks. "It's leaning toward an apparent natural death, but we don't know why," Gorniak said.

The Union have lost their spark for the next six to eight weeks. Midfielder Roger Torres, 19, had surgery Friday morning to repair meniscus damage in his left knee, suffered after he sprained his MCL in Monday's 4-2 reserve win over New England. Torres' role on the Union has been as the second-half offensive firecracker, generally entering late in matches. He assisted Lionard Pajoy on the Union's second goal of the season against Colorado in Week 2. The Union purchased the rights of Torres from Colombian first-division club America de Cali in the offseason.

The Union will open their preseason in Florida at 6 p.m. Saturday with a matchup against the USL Pro Orlando City Lions in the opener of the eight-team Disney Pro Soccer Classic tournament. The Union are in Group A with Orlando and Major League Soccer's Toronto FC and Columbus Crew. In Group B are the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League and MLS sides D.C. United, the Montreal Impact, and Sporting Kansas City. Every group-stage game of the tournament will be streamed live on Philly.com's soccer blog at www.philly.com/tgk . The Union will play Columbus at 1 p.m. Wednesday and face Toronto at 3 p.m. Feb. 16. The consolation and title games will be Feb. 23. In addition to the tournament, the Union will play exhibitions against the Impact in Jacksonville at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15, and against United at 6 p.m. Feb. 20 in Deltona, Fla. The Union will open the MLS season against Sporting at PPL Park in Chester at 4 p.m. March 2. TV schedule.

Trey Burke , the Associated Press men's player of the year, is leaving Michigan early for the NBA draft. Burke led Michigan to the NCAA title game as a sophomore. The 6-foot point guard averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists per game this season. He made perhaps the most memorable shot of the NCAA tournament, a long three-pointer in the final seconds against Kansas that sent the regional semifinal to overtime. Connecticut's latest victory parade had a French Quarter feel to it. About 10,000 fans lined Hartford's Bushnell Park on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon to cheer the national champion UConn women as they passed by on the top of a double-decker bus, tossing Mardi Gras beads to the crowd.

Lost sometimes amid all the skill players in soccer, at any level, is the importance of the grinders, the ones willing to do the grunt work. The Union knew all about that while losing their first three Major League Soccer games this season. And even though they didn't win the fourth game, that scoreless tie on Saturday with Vancouver at least halted the losing. After the game, team manager Peter Nowak talked about the team's renewed dedication to toughening up. "[From]

Official notice: If you have a vacant lot with room for 22 soccer players and 20,000 futbol-happy spectators, call the offices of Major League Soccer. They may call back. Approaching the end of its third season, MLS is no closer to coming to Philadelphia for the same reason it didn't place a franchise here to begin with. There's no place to play. What is changing is the willingness of MLS to wait around for a new stadium to be built so it can be a tenant, share some luxury boxes, and play on grass.

As far as anniversaries go, the Union didn't expect to be celebrating one that arrives Saturday. When the Union host the Columbus Crew in Saturday's 7:30 p.m. Major League Soccer matchup at PPL Park in Chester, it will mark the two-month anniversary of their last win. It's hard to believe that the last time the Union earned three points was with a 3-0 win at the New England Revolution on July 17. Since then, the Union are 0-3-5. What is amazing is that the Union are still very much alive in the playoff race, one that has no shortage of contenders.

CALL IT pilfering. It's what the Columbus Crew came in and did to a Union side desperately looking for three points at home. With a minute to go in second-half stoppage, Crew forward Eddie Gaven coolly tapped home a low cross from midfielder Justin Meram to steal a 2-1 win in front of 16,568 in attendance at PPL Park, inching ever closer to securing the fifth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Crew (11-8-6, 39 points) is tied with Montreal for fifth in points.