Beckham To Train With Arsenal During Offseason
LA Galaxy star David Beckham is headed back to England, but he will not be leaving MLS. According to the Associated Press, the England international will be training with current English Premier League leaders Arsenal in an attempt to stay fit for future England fixtures and to prepare for the upcoming MLS season. “We will help him to get fit and prepare for the season,” Arsene Wenger told BBC Radio. “There’s a good chance that he will come in January, but it’s not decided.” The longtime Arsenal manager also stressed that Beckham would not be suiting up for the Gunners, only training and getting ready for next season.
This move makes sense on many levels. Beckham spent most of his first season with the Galaxy on the sidelines due to injury. Part of the reason he was injured so much was because he simply was not fit enough to play. At age 32, while still young, Beckham must stay fit if he is continue to play both domestically and internationally. Gone are the days where David Beckham is guaranteed a place in the English side, especially with new manager Fabio Capello now at the helm. Capello has already said that he will be keeping a close eye on the fitness of Beckham, so being ready to play will be even more important to Beckham. With younger players such as David Bentley and Shaun Wright Phillips ready to move into Beckham’s place, Beckham will have to be fit and then some to keep his spot.
So how will this play out? I think Beckham is still England’s best winger, even at 32. As long as he is fit, his crosses and free kicks are still at a world class level. I also think that if and when Beckham is back in the fold for England, he will do so as the new captain. While John Terry has done a decent job for England, Beckham is what makes this team go. The players know it, and so does Capello. Capello watched Beckham basically put Real Madrid on his back and carried them to La Liga glory last season. Even though they had a falling out last season, Capello knows what Beckham is capable of. He’ll never lead England in goals, but he will lead them in heart, something that England lacks right now. Not only will Beckham get his 100th cap for England, I think he will reach at least 110, and perhaps even 120 before he is done with international play. For a player who has given everything he has to England, he deserves nothing less.
Liverpool FC To Play MLS All-Stars?
According to The Daily Mail, Major League Soccer has approached Liverpool FC in an attempt to get the English giants to play against the MLS All-Stars next summer. The report also proposes the idea of Liverpool playing Italian giants Juventus in Montreal to gauge the interest in Canada. As much as I like seeing European teams come to the US to play against MLS clubs and all stars, I don’t see the point, besides making money, and possibly raising the profile of soccer in the States. If MLS wins, people view them as being that much closer to the EPL. The reality is that when European teams come over(Celtic and Chelsea recently), they are generally in preseason form, and therefore that much easier to beat. If MLS were to lose, the media in Europe can sling even more mud at MLS, especially if the game is a blowout.
When it comes to raising the profile of the game here, why do we need European sides to do that? I’ve long believed in the idea that if soccer is to become one of the big 4 sports in America, then it will need to do so from within. While players like David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco are nice, the fact is they are not Americans, so they can only do so much for MLS. I’ll never understand why so much emphasis is placed on David Beckham when we have future American stars such as Jozy Altidore in MLS as well. We live in a country that thrives on the idea of an American hero. David Beckham can’t be our American hero, but Jozy Altidore can be. Right now, MLS cannot hold onto its stars, and many of them leave for the greener pastures of Europe(Clint Dempsey, Freddy Adu, etc.) Instead of focusing on spending money on big name players from Europe who are on the downside of their careers, focus that money into building up youth programs and MLS in general so players won’t want to leave. The fact is, I feel as though these players have to leave, because they are wasting both their time and talent by staying in MLS right now. It is high time for MLS to take the next step in becoming a bigger and better league. For the youth, we only have to look to the streets of Brazil to see how the young kids there are doing tricks and having fun. Youth soccer is too structured, too English if you will. Let the kids have fun, and chances are you’ll have more imaginative Ronaldinho’s(not the Ronaldinho of today, 2 years ago) instead of robotic players. Granted, I understand that many people in America could care less about soccer. But these same people are probably turned off by the idea of seeing David Beckham 134 times in one game too. Fans love a winner, but how can MLS become a winner when they depend on Europe for exposure?
Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the Euro teams come over and play. But while seeing them is nice, MLS needs to soon realize that Europe can’t make MLS bigger, only we can do that.
Zimmerman Signs With Hamburger SV
USA u-20 striker Preston Zimmerman has signed a contract with Hamburger SV after scoring 9 goals in 32 matches with the club’s reserve team. He will be bound to the club until the end of the 2008/2009 season.
On a side note, to our readers, we would like to apologize for the lack of activity here. Danny and I are students, which means the first few weeks of December were always going to be tough for us. We just have not had the time to update the site regularly. Thank you for your patience. We will be back to full service this week. There will be a report from Europe either tonight or tomorrow morning.
Champions League Final 16 and a Michael Bradley Hat Trick
First off, I’d like to apologize for the lack of activity on the site recently. Secondly, I’d like to point out that the title of this article is not a typo. Michael Bradley did indeed score a hat trick this weekend for Heerenveen to lead them to a 4-2 victory over FC Groningen. Here are some highlights of the game. Heerenveen sits in 4th place in the Eredivisie, only 5 points behind Ajax. Bradley has definitely become a major part of the team that could see some playing time in Europe next year. Things are really looking good for Bradley, and it wouldn’t be against the odds to see him move to a higher profile team soon.
Now to the Champions League. The final group stages matches have finished. Liverpool was able to earn a second place in their group to advance to the second round. On the other end of things, Rangers crashed out of the competition in their win-or-die match versus Lyon. The teams that won their groups include FC Porto, Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Inter Milan, and FC Sevilla. The second place teams that they will be drawn against include Liverpool, Shalke, Olympiacos, Celtic, Lyon, Roma, Fenerbahce, and Arsenal. Personally, I would love to see AC Milan get drawn against Liverpool. The two teams have developed a rivalry over the years meeting twice in the last 3 Champions League finals. AC Milan will be banking on winning again, as they have struggled in the Serie A. They actually have yet to record a home win this season.
On a side note, there are yet again stories of English and Italian fan violence during the Roma and Manchester United match today. There were reportedly 3 stabbings and at least 5 people hospitalized in the build up to the match. Now I know that the English fans are not free of blame. They do have a reputation for going places and drinking up a storm and causing all sorts of havoc. However, I think the blame here has to be on the Italian teams, fans, and police. They obviously do not have things under control, and it’s only a matter of time before action will be taken by UEFA and FIFA. It happened to England in the 80s after the Heysel disaster. English teams were banned for 5 years. Do I think as drastic measures need to be taken in Italy? Yes.
Jozy Altidore Is Not Going To Real Madrid
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has come out and stated that Madrid will not be making a splash in the January transfer market. This means that barring any unforeseen events, Jozy Altidore will be staying with New York Red Bulls next season. Now that Calderon has said that, should we believe him? I think it would be hard to fit Altidore in at Madrid, especially with the likes of Robinho, Raul and Rudd Van Nistelrooy already holding forward spots with the club. Now is it possible that Madrid comes in and throws 15 million at MLS for Altidore? Absolutely. They can afford to do so, I just don’t see why they would want too. My prediction? Offers are made for Altidore, but unless they are in the 15 mil range, he’ll be staying with New York next season.
Daily Roundup: 12/2/07
Just a quick update for you guys, let’s hop right into this!
Damarcus Beasley
Rangers and USA winger Damarcus Beasley will be out for at least a year following knee surgery. This is a tough break for all parties involved as Beasley was really hitting his stride for Rangers, and it now leaves the USMNT with huge holes on its left side. Jen Chang at EspnSoccernet has an interesting take on who should replace Beasley on the left wing. You can check that out here. I think Freddy Adu could shine in this spot if he was willing to let go of the idea of being the # 10 and attacking midfielder for the USMNT, at least for now. With Adu on the left, you can have Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Freddy Adu on the field at the same time. This would allow Bob Bradley to field his strongest squad. We’ll have to see what happens here.
u-23 Olympic Team
In other USA news, u-23 Coach Peter Nowak named the u-23 Squad for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, China next summer. The lineup is as follows…
Goalkeepers: Zac MacMath (Clearwater Chargers), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).
Defenders: Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Jon Leathers (Furman University), Mike Randolph (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Tim Ward (Columbus Crew), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).
Midfielders: Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Michael Harrington (Kansas City Wizards), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Freddy Adu(SL Benfica), Sacha Kljestan (CD Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas).
Forwards: Josmer Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Adam Cristman (New England Revolution), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF, Sweden), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96, Germany).
Wow. That’s a lot of talent. I feel like this team can win a medal in this tournament, if it plays up to its potential. That is a big if though, considering the US has fallen flat on its face in a few of the last few tournaments(2006 World Cup, Copa America, u-17 World Cup, 2007 Women’s World Cup). Hopefully Nowak has this team set up and ready to go next summer. The team will go play 4 qualifying games in China during December. An interesting plot to watch is the relationship between Nowak and Freddy Adu. When Nowak coached DC United, Adu was the newest sensation with the team and MLS. They had a very rocky relationship while at United, and while they have apparently patched things up, the way they interact will be interesting to watch.
That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with updates from Europe!