Last year, Chicago destroyed LA's playoff hopes in the final game of the year. This year, they could pretty much kill the Galaxy off - a little earlier this time around.

LD talks about doing "internal work". Sounds like colonics or something. LD gives a nod to Hispanic Heritage month, saying those were his soccer teammates when he was growing up. Click to continue reading...

ESPN2 will be all Chi-town down tonight when the Galaxy comes to town to finally give us the Becks-Landon-Lewis vs. Blanco-McBride-Mapp match that we missed out on a few weeks back. Even though both teams haven't exactly been pissing excellence as of late (LA's result against D.C. aside) I'm more excited to watch this than any of the CONCACAF Champions League games/ass-whippings that were on this week. Click to continue reading...

My Beckham sidebar is on espn.com now.

Now, a few people might be thinking, "Hey! What about the guy that scored the hat trick?"

Not to worry. I've got a piece coming up on him, too.

But this one was about captain Becks, who seemed pretty business-like about the win. Click to continue reading...

David Bentley said in December of last year "I've a bit of banter with Becks. I tell him I'm the new Becks and better looking. Some players are in awe of him but he's just Becks to me. "I believe I should be in the England team instead of him. Any footballer [...] Click to continue reading...

Five points if you can guess what country Lake Balaton is in?

For the record, I'd have scored a zero.

Anyway, here are the rankings. One team is on a surge and has shot up, up, up the rankings. They're not in a playoff position yet but I'd take them to beat all the teams from 6-14 without question, at least at home. Click to continue reading...

I just watched the game via the archived stream on MLSNet. This team looks completely different from the team that lost to Chicago just a week earlier. At home.

Probably because it basically is a completely different team when you put in Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Eddie Lewis all at the same time.

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Whilst thumbing through The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer in bed the other night, I wondered to myself "when is someone going to do the first book about Becks in America?". With Europe's bookshelves already rammed full of books about our David it was only a matter of time before someone got in the act over on this side of world. Click to continue reading...

David Beckham believes the London Olympics in 2012 will be even better than what we´ve seen at the Beijing Games.
Becks arrived in the Chinese capital on Saturday to join up with Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis ahead of their starring roles in London's slot in Sunday's Games' closing ceremony. Click to continue reading...

Headed out to Galaxy training today largely to see how new signing and former UCLA Bruin Eddie Lewis was doing after that ghastly looking head injury in Guatemala last week.

Turns out the 34-year-old Cerritos native was just fine - albeit with a chunk still noticeably missing from his head - and went through the entire 80-minute practice with no restrictions and no problems.

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David Beckham took time out from being criticised by journalists on both sides of the Atlantic to overhit a pass to a Chinese Olympic organiser. Becks took part in the handover section of the closing ceremony as part of the London 2012 team. He appeared with Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Click to continue reading...

Stuff to read while you find naturally growing marijuana plants at the beach.... Lesson: Don't leave your children unattended around British tourists. (Unprofessional Foul) Becks playing for Preston North End way back in the day. (The Spoiler) Stuff overheard after the US game. (Dan Loney Blog) Somebody's questioning Fabio Capello & his trophy cabinet. Click to continue reading...

Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager and Setanta pundit whom I quoted earlier today, rubbed the England gaffer's rhubarb the wrong way with his comments regarding the lacklustre performance versus the Czech's yesterday and primarily with the positioning of a certain Scouser. Now, Mr. Capello responded shortly after saying that he was playing a 4-3-2-1 and said Scouser, Steven Gerrard, was indeed playing behind the striker, along side Master Rooney. Click to continue reading...

I'm sure you've all heard it by now: England manager Fabio Capello named John Terry captain of the Three Lions today.

If you believe the numerous media reports, the strong favorite to be handed the armband on a permanent basis was Manchester United center back Rio Ferdinand, whose steady, and at times fantastic, play tends to greatly overshadow his off-field transgressions over the years in the minds of many England fans. Click to continue reading...

*While I've been columnizing much of the day, plenty of other stuff is going on in the soccer world with one highlight being former Galaxy defender Chris Albright slamming departed Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit at SI.com:

"My thought was that he'd be gone by midway through this year - I thought that two days after meeting him," said the 29-year-old defender, who was part of the Galaxy squad that made preseason trips to Australia and New Zealand.

Click to continue reading...

We're finally online.
Chivas USA
Zack Thornton
Carey Talley
Bobby Burling,
Shavar Thomas
Francisco Mendoza
Keith Savage
Jesse Marsch
Paulo Nagamura
Daniel Paladini
Justin Braun
Atiba Harris

Galaxy
Steve Cronin
Chris Klein
Sean Franklin
Ante jazic
Greg Vanney
David Beckham
Alvaro Pires
Peter Vagenas
Ely Allen
Edson Buddle
Landon Donovan

Sorry I have no details about game atmosphere - we've been scrambling to get wireless here in the pressbox. Click to continue reading...

In case you were wondering, the US will announce their roster for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in Guatemala later today.

I had originally thought that the game would have a massive affect on the Galaxy-Chicago Fire game but it may only be limit one player, albeit the superstar, from suiting up. Click to continue reading...

David Beckham's publicist has issued a statement on today's events on behalf of Becks:

"He is sad to see Ruud and Alexi go, but he and the team remain focused on getting back to winning ways starting with the game against Chivas on Thursday."

Click to continue reading...

Diego's little daughter Giannina (left) got knocked up, by longtime boyfriend and Atletico Madrid superstar forward Sergio Aguero (middle).

Fortunately for the young Argentine, the legend (right) didn't seem very upset:

According to the Argentinean press, Diego Maradona has confessed to his fellow "showbol": "Boys, I will be a grandfather.

Click to continue reading...

While we're on the subject, I'll take last week's Manchester United vs. Juventus friendly match as an opportunity to show these cool PEPSI commercials. No commentary needed, just... enjoy! Hey, isn't that the Coca-Cola tagline?.. . Inside the Man U Changing Room . On a Foosball Table . Becks vs. Click to continue reading...

Behold Mo Edu's new FIFA 09 cover. Props to him for getting the Altidore replacement call this year ahead of someone like Becks, Blanco or Landon. And notice that Ronnie is wearing his Brazil kit...I guess his club team for this year was too close to call at the time of deadline. Click to continue reading...

Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz took to the stage with their dad as he was named top male athlete last night. Millions of US children voted Becks, 33, their top sport hero for the award.
Cruz Beckham unleashed a spontaneous break dancing routine on stage following David's acceptance speech. Click to continue reading...

So, who likes this commercial better than the Sharpie one?


The "Practice Pop-In" is a tactic that's been done before for adidas and DSG with different athletes. Reggie Bush (Becks' buddy from an earlier commercial the two did together) featured in one.
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I heard a while back that our David was going to make an appearance on Sesame Street this season, but all I knew about it was that he was alleged to have beef with Oscar the Grouch. And now that I have seen a photo of him on-set I have more questions that I did before. Questions like, who's hairier, Becks or Elmo? Click to continue reading...

Before I really begin this post let me preface it by saying, "no one is asking". By that I mean I know that no one is asking me what I think MLS should do in regard to signing players nor would I ever feign being qualified to tell anyone over there what to look for in a player. I say this because I don't want this post to come across like one of those that you read on some other blogs where a guy who's got less access and insight than the janitor at HDC tells you who Chivas USA should sign, so please don't take it too seriously. Click to continue reading...

America's Major League Soccer All Star XI defeated West Ham United 3-2 in a preseason friendly. Dean Ashton was the standout performer of the match as he notched both of West Ham's goals. Carlton Cole partnered Ashton up top and was largely ineffective throughout the match, stressing the need for a healthy Craig Bellamy. Click to continue reading...

Well, well, Don Garber refers to more journalists turning out for the All-Star events this year than ever before (over 300 credentialed). I, of course, am at home. Most of all, I'm sad I missed out on so much free food. (Last year's ESPN-hosted party had a chocolate fountain and three kinds of free beer). Click to continue reading...

So that's 1 point for Shep, 1 kabillion for Becks. Not that anyone is keeping score. Click to continue reading...

"Yep, smells like $250m to me..." Mr JT (not John Terry, but the talented Timberlake) wowed guests - including Posh & Becks and C-Ron - at the ESPY sports awards ceremony last week. Here he is embarrassing the shit out... Click to continue reading...

Everyone has an opinion about Becks, it seems. Even those who know little about MLS. It amused me that the BBC would take in the NY/LA game, watch Juan Pablo Angel's goal, Van Den Bergh's cracker, Buddle's dribble and chip and come away with the description of "second-division football".
Ah well. Click to continue reading...

When the New York Red Bulls hosted LA Galaxy this weekend, the obligatory group of young female fans was screaming for Beckham.

They'd painted B-E-C-K-S onto their midriffs.

Becks does his best K-fed...

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Is it coming back home? Joseph S Blatter said last week that 3 other countries have been contacted over the possibility of staging the next World Cup in 2010 if South Africa is suddenly hit by some nasty natural disaster or if they encounter problems which will make it necessary for them to have it moved. Click to continue reading...

Another soccer-filled weekend is on tap, so let's get to it.

*The Galaxy are out of town in New York where Claudio Reyna retired this week and the Red Bulls signed two South American midfielders who could make their debuts Saturday.

The game airs live at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel and a crowd of more than 45,000 is expected to turn out largely to see David Beckham who continues to prove why he's nicknamed Golden Balls.

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Some news to read as you find an eight-foot python in your washing machine: ESPY Does and Don'ts with Becks and CR7 (The Offside Rules) An interesting look at the history of football broadcasting in Britain (Two Hundred Percent) The "almost" All-Stars of the MLS (Soccer by Ives) Toronto FC's 2009 kid revealed. Click to continue reading...

How about them Wizards?
Anyway, the injury of Sean Franklin means the Galaxy have had to scramble to replace him. He's been their most consistent defender, rookie or no.
So who replaces him? Greg Vanney or Troy Roberts? The short answer is that both players are in the starting lineup.
Galaxy: Cronie, Kleiny, Troy, Vanney, Ante, Ely, Becks, Pete, Willie, Eddie, LD
Chivas USA: Guzano, Talley, Shavar, Jonny, 'Tiba, Sach, Jesse, Nags, Panchito, 'Te. Click to continue reading...

People take note, never count out Miami.

Miami Ultras rejoice, just when it looked like Miami was as good as dead as an expansion candidate it is thrown a lifeline.

Remember way back when we told you that David Beckham had the option to buy a club and speculated he would buy one in New York or Miami rather than add a 3rd one to Southern California? Click to continue reading...