Beckham to Stay at Milan - No Trip to DSG Park

The saga is finally over. David Beckham will extend his loan stay at Italian giants AC Milan and won't therefore be back in the MLS with the LA Galaxy until July. That means no trip to DSG Park for the Galaxy game against the Colorado Rapids in April. The 4-0 thumping of LA by the Rapids on opening day last year could therefore be the only time the Rocky Mountain faithful will ever get to see the England superstar, one brief appearance at the 2007 All-Star game excepted.
What very few people seem to emphasize about this whole episode is that Beckham was on a very poor LA team. The chemistry was bad and the locker room atmosphere was reportedly terrible. Add to that a poor coaching choice in Ruud Gullit and it was a recipe for disaster. You can't really blame Beckham for wanting to stay at AC Milan with the likes of Maldini, Kaka et al. He is a very ambitious professional who remains super fit and wants to play for England at the World Cup next year. Playing with such greats at Milan clearly helps him with that. You just get the feeling, however, that, if he had been with a better run team in the MLS, the dilemma would not have been so difficult. It is going to be very tough for him to come back to LA because the fans may not be all that forgiving. Whatever the rights and wrongs of his decision, the perception with some is that he has turned his back on a signed contract and was only ever interested in money. I don't subscribe to that point of view but many do.
Here is a good link below on the BBC website. Steve Nichol, the New England coach, is clearly overstating the importance of Beckham to the MLS while Ivan Gazidis has to say what he does. He's not going to admit that Beckham's absence is a disaster for the MLS, is he? Check out the thoughts of Andrei Markovits. The aimiable professor (I met him once at DU) manages to combine academia and soccer. Not a bad combination.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7912670.stm

Guess Walcott's Not Available On Loan Then?

To those who spout cliches that football is a funny old game or that there are no easy games in international soccer, have a look at some of the results in the early stages of European qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Obviously, the easiest game was England away to FIFA fifth-ranked team Croatia. Cue wunderkind Theo Walcott's hat-trick and it did turn out to be a stroll in the park for the England boys. Not quite what was imagined as Croatia have dominated England recently and never lost a competitive game at home. This was the best performance by England since they dismantled Germany 5-1 in Germany back in 2001. Walcott was calm, quick and caused problems all night. David Beckham may never start another game for England again after this. I think it was all obviously down to the game Walcott played for Arsenal reserves against the Colorado Rapids on their preseason tour to the UK back in March. I'm sure we were thinking of picking him up on loan as he was not a sure starter for the Gunners but that might seem a little distant as a prospect now. The infamous Sun newspaper summed it up very nicely: "Walcott, 19, gave Croatia a real kick in the Balkans."
Elsewhere, the team of the moment appears to be Lithuania who have beaten both Romania (away) and Austria. Austria, themselves, beat France at the weekend. Fancied Portugal somehow managed to give three goals away to Denmark in the last eight minutes to lose at home, Finland drew with Germany and poor old Luxembourg, who basically never seem to win, got an away victory in Switzerland, hosts of Euro 2008. It's good that it's not as predictable as the Premier League. Thirteen teams will qualify for South Africa from Europe; the nine group winners and four of the runners-up. I'll try and write something periodically about the other qualifying zones.
Off to Rapids training tomorrow so will post something to preview the Chicago game on Sunday.

Rapids Shoot But Don't Score Enough

Once again, the Colorado Rapids outshot their opposition but there is only one statistic that matters in soccer and that is how many goals you score and how many goals you let in, well two statistics then. Everton scored twice, once at the beginning of the game and once right at the end. Conor Casey got on the scoresheet for the Rapids early in the second half but it proved not to be enough. One of the post-match phrases often used by lower teams in England when they play the big boys is that "we showed them too much respect." That is what happened in the first 20 minutes or so yesterday when the Rapids seemed almost in awe of the various internationals facing them in the blue shirts and consequently let Everton dictate the game. There was no surprise when Mikel Arteta (or Michael Arteta as the stadium announcer insisted on calling the Spaniard) scored after six minutes. If Spain weren't such a damn good national team and so heavily stocked with superstars in the midfield, surely Arteta could find his way into that set-up. He and Cahill make up a fantastic midfield pairing.
It was only when the Rapids woke up and realized that they were facing a jet-lagged, not match fit team with teenagers playing at its heart that they started to fight back. This was particularly clear in Colin Clark's case. Clark was basically anonymous in the first half but played really well in the second 45 minutes, making some great dribbles and creating chances with Terry Cooke and the energetic Herculez Gomez. I kept wishing he would make a fool of Phil Neville at right back just as he had with another international in Frankie Hejduk the previous week but Neville never really let him do that. The Rapids dominated the second half with Clark, Herculez and Cooke gaining the upper hand. Nick LaBrocca also gave the team a lot of energy in that second half after coming on as a substitute for Mehdi Ballouchy.
A good game. It was great fun to interact with a team from England (and to hear the anthem at DSG Park!). I think these games are great for the Rapids' players who can test themselves against international stars who play in one of the biggest leagues in the world. If they can perform well against such a team, they know they can perform on most stages. Granted this is a team with a lack of fully fit players who are only in their preseason but this is still a Premier League team who finished fifth in the league last season. Positives to take into the vital MLS game against Toronto this weekend.

World Cup Comes to DSG Park

Well, a qualifying match anyway. The US will play a World Cup qualifier at the home of the Rapids in November as long as they get through the qualifier next month against Barbados. Very exciting. I very much look forward to that so congrats where due to the powers that be who made it happen. The US are playing a series of friendlies before the Barbados games and this includes a game at Wembley against England May 28. I was really tempted to go but the flights back to Denver from London rose dramatically May 29 so I will actually be flying back during the game. Bad planning but a lot cheaper.
I hope for a Rapids' win against Fake Salt Lake tonight. I think the Colorado boys really have to win the next three home games, for psychological reasurance more than anything. It's hard to believe they are doing so well in the conference when they have actually lost more games than they have won. They must continue to play the attacking football we saw against DC United. As we witnessed last night, defensive soccer will kill you in the end. Zenit fully deserved their win against a negative Rangers in the UEFA Cup Final. Signing off from Accra. I sound like a foreign correspondent. Go Rapids!

England to Get to Semis? Illogical Captain

We finally get a high caliber coach and then we set him illogical targets. No, not Fernando Clavijo, but Fabio Capello. The powers that be at the English FA, who so ridiculously insisted on having Steve "I'll stand under my umbrella and drink mineral water" McClaren as national team coach, have now heaped the pressure on the Italian to make sure that England reach the semi-finals of either the World Cup in 2010 or the European Championships in 2012. What is the point of such targets? It's almost like predicting scores in games, absolutely pointless, because it takes no account of luck, form of players, how well the oppostion is playing and any other number of indefinable factors. I understand the need to get a solid future plan together for the sake of English football but I think we should spare the silly targets. Yes, it would be nice to get to the semi-finals of a major tournament, something we haven't done for a while now (Euro 96, Italia 90) but so much will be out of our hands. We can play our best, play some proper football that the England players are well capable of and then we will see. Personally, I think Argentina will beat the Ivory Coast in the World Cup Final in South Africa with Didier Drogba scoring two in a 3-2 defeat of the Super Elephants. See how stupid it is to predict things? Here's the link to the BBC story on silly target setting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7386163.stm

RIP David Rocastle

David Rocastle was a truly gifted player for Arsenal and England before his untimely death in 2001 at the age of 33. And he was also, more importantly, a class human being. This is a quick note to say that tomorrow will mark the seventh anniversary of his death. Please check the link below to maybe buy a commemorative t-shirt and raise money for autism research in the process.
http://www.arseshirts.com/rocky7

Youngsters Shine as Rapids Sink Galaxy

A sellout crowd, a beautiful Colorado evening and a performance to match. The Colorado Rapids ran out impressive winners 4-0 over the LA Galaxy, Beckham et al, in the season opener at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The England superstar duly made the trip and lasted the whole 90 minutes. He was impressive in the opening quarter of the game with some trademark crosses and setpieces but he and the whole team were totally deflated after the award of a dubious penalty kick for the Rapids in the 59th minute of the game, duly converted by new signing, Christian Gomez, to make it 2-0. After that, a combination of poor morale, altitude and relentless attacking by the Rapids saw off the Galaxy who now welcome a run of games at home in California. As Beckham and Galaxy coach, Ruud Gullit, repeatedly said at the post-match press conference, the penalty was the pivotal moment of the game. The players' spirits were sapped and the altitude drained them then of any remaining life. Omar Cummings and Colin Clarke made hay to score the remaining goals, this after Man of the Match, Terry Cooke, had opened the scoring for the Rapids in the tenth minute with a belter of a shot from the right side of the penalty area after Christian Gomez had rattled the post from further out.
Cooke, who for much of last season looked frustrated and maybe a bit lost, was absolutely outstanding tonight and fully deserved his MoM award. I think his partnership with the very offensively minded Jose Burciaga will do wonders for his confidence. He must have relished putting one over his old teammate Beckham. The two duly swapped shirts at the final whistle as they no doubt reminisced over their days in the Manchester United youth team.
All the big stars aside, though, it was the Colorado youngsters who really impressed tonight. Keel and Kimura were epic at the heart of the defense where Bouna Coundoul showed impressive bravery a number of times and managed to keep the attacking threats of Donovan and Ruiz at bay. As coach Clavijo said, there were seven players out there whom you could class as rookies given the Rapids' injury problems and they all acquitted themselves outstandingly well. One special mention also to sub Ciaran O'Brien who came on in the 70th minute for Christian Gomez, played his heart out and was sent off in the final moments of the game for a poor but unmalicious tackle on Ruiz who proceeded to make a drama out of a crisis. Beckham was manful enough to say that O'Brien should not have been sent off for the tackle; it was clearly a yellow card at most. I'm not a big fan of supporters cheering their ejected players but, in this case, such support was fully deserved. O'Brien may only be slight of figure but his tackling and heart were a joy to watch and he should not have been sent off. He will have a great season if he plays like that every time.
So, nice work all around by the team which now goes to Kansas City April 5 for their next game against the Wizards.

Beckham to Miss Opener v Rapids?

Remember last season when the pseudo fans demanded their money back because Mr. Beckham wasn't able to play in the game against the Rapids because he had just played a game for England, flown back to play for the Galaxy the next day and, rightly, realized the schedule was ridiculous? Well, as we anxiously await the season opener in two weeks against LA, the talk seems to be that Beckham is very likely to play in the England friendly against France, just three days before the opener at DSG Park. Seems a bit too familiar a situation? Even if he escapes any injury in the game against France, the prospect of a potentially freezing day in the Rocky Mountains may not look too pleasing for him and the LA organization amidst all the jetlag. I don't doubt Beckham's professionalism and I think LA will do everything possible to play him but it does have eerie comparisons with last season even if there is no other MLS game in between like last time. Still seems a little odd to me that he would be selected for the national team given a lack of serious match practice but that seems to be the word on the street. I hope to see him play but not as much as I hope the Rapids run out comfortable winners and give us a warm feeling for the season ahead.

Dublin Gets All Italian - Che Bello!

Strange bedfellows indeed. Not only is Giovanni Trapattoni taking over as the new Republic of Ireland coach, he's getting World Cup hero Marco Tardelli to be his number two. OK, so it's just an excuse to link to what is without doubt the best ever celebration of a goal in the history of soccer (see below). I don't think the video link really does the celebration justice but it really remains a thing of beauty for its pure naturalness.
First England with Capello, now Ireland with Traps and Tardelli. I note few real doubts on the Irish side insisting on an Irish manager. Ireland against England in the final of World Cup 2010? Probably not but they'll all be eating better and listening to Puccini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3IMTGXmnSk

Why Capello is Right Not to Pick Beckham

And why McClaren was wrong to drop him after the World Cup. Fabio Capello, the new coach of the English national team, has not selected David Beckham for the upcoming friendly against Switzerland. Golden Balls therefore misses the chance to gain his hundredth cap for England, missing out on joining a select band of players to have done so. They said Capello was tough and this decision shows just how strong-minded he is. It is absolutely the right thing to do. Beckham has not played a competitive game since November. He is, no doubt, retaining his extraordinary fitness by working out with Arsenal but he cannot be match fit. Capello has promised Beckham he will continue to fit into his plans once he gets some games under his belt in the MLS season. What a contrast with McClaren, the previous coach. McClaren, in a pattern he would go on to consistently display, dropped Becks after the World Cup because the media needed a scapegoat for England's poor performance. Beckham was actually one of the better England players in that tournament and did not deserve such treatment. It's great to have Capello at the helm even if it's a couple of years too late.
I also really like his appointment of Stuart Pearce as assistant. Pearce will continue to concentrate on the U-21 team but will also be involved in the senior games. That should shut the Little Englanders up for a while. Pearce has the talent and the desire to be a national team coach and his involvement should be warmly welcomed.