Golden Balls out of World Cup

After a non contact injury, where David Beckham tore his Achilles tendon, his chances of heading to South Africa with the English national team are slim to none.  While I have never made it a secret that I think the golden child of football is one of the most overrated players, I also have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his heart.

Beckham can never be accused of not loving the sport and not giving everything he can for his teams. Unlike other international players - such as Paul Scholes - he clearly loves pulling on the Three Lion's kit. Whether or not his chase to be the most capped English player is seem as a gimmick of the Beckham marketing machine or an athlete overstaying his welcome, I do not think one can question the will and desire that Becks has to carry on for his nation.

So what does this mean for the player, England and the Galaxy? First, if Beckham can come back I am sure he will do whatever it takes to return to the pitch as soon as he can. I do not think that Becks will want his career to end on such a note. I think the loss will be more hard felt for the English national team. Why? With all the controversy surrounding John Terry the loss of their former captain and iconic leader will potentially create a void in the dressing room. In addition, Capello's ability to use Becks as a late game veteran substitute made England that much more dangerous. Beckham remains dangerous on dead balls and crosses, something that could have been very useful late in a game. Finally, England's other wingers are not lighting the world on fire currently. As for the Galaxy, I do not think they will feel as much of the impact - their season is only starting to get into the preseason swing of things. Beckham could be back over the summer or early fall and therefore could have an impact on the MLS season.

I feel for Beckham, as the Sports Illustrated article points out, he has worked hard to make himself available and ready to head to South Africa and that has now been placed in serious jeopardy. Let us hope that golden balls makes a swift recovery and can leave the game his way, not on crutches.

Beckham gets the business in LA

So Golden Balls gets booed during his debut for the Galaxy. Ah fans will be fans. The fans were up in arms because Beckham had the audacity to try and work out a deal with Milan to make his move permanent. How dare he!!! Who would ever want to give up playing in the MLS for Serie A? I cannot fathom why Golden Balls even thought about not coming back to the MLS to face the likes of Real Salt Lake, Red Bull and the Rapids...much better than playing against Inter, Roma, or Juventus. All joking aside, I understand why Beckham wanted to stay in Europe and I guess I understand why the fans did what they did. The one issue the fans need to get a grasp of, the MLS remains an inferior product to what is offered in Europe. How can you fault any player for wanting to play for AC Milan? I realize that the fans take this as an insult, how dare a player turn his back on their beloved Galaxy??? I have always been a critic of Golden Balls, but one thing I will never accuse him of is not being dedicated to his trade, his team and his country. I think that it is unjust that fans, obviously fueled by the Donovan comments, are slinging the insults at Becks. Beckham has given the MLS and the Galaxy all that he has to offer during his time in LA. Wanting to move on to another league, a vastly superior one, should not be used against a player who did play hard when he put on the #23 kit. The Galaxy fans need to get over it, understand that any player worth their salt would seek to play at the highest level of competition. Just because their binky, Landycakes, keeps coming back to LA, does not mean other players want that...and I am sure Landycakes would have been happy if Bayern had looked to keep him for the season. Wonder if the fans will boo him now that Livorno is interested in bring him to Italy.

Fans will be fans...I guess the one positive is that the footie fans in LA have some passion, not sure that would have been the case 10 years ago.

The Beckham saga

I keep reading, what appears every day, is that Beckham is on again off again to staying in Northern Italy. It would appear that the loan move to Milan is wanted to be made permanent. What a surprise. Which player would not want to stay at the San Siro playing against Lazio, AS Roma, Inter, Juventus, let alone the European teams in the Champions League? Seems a much better footballing experience than having to play in front of 8,000 fans in football stadiums like Gillette or Giant Stadium. Seems like a much better experience than toiling for the dysfunctional Galaxy. Seems like a much better experience for the entire Beckham brand name. Seems like playing for one of the best footy leagues in the world would be a better experience than playing for the MLS (just don't ask Lalas how he views the MLS in the grand scheme of football leagues). So I think that a the end of this dance between MLS and Milan that Becks will end up at the San Siro for a protracted time. Which will be somewhat remarkable - Beckham would have played for 3 of the most storied and trophied clubs in the world - Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan in the world's top 3 leagues...as well as having played in the MLS in the midst of all these teams. So why is this interesting to me? Other than the fact Beckham has run back to Europe at the first chance he had, even though the MLS was supposedly a great place to be...oops. I think this move will determine if Gourcuff is brought back after his loan spell with Bordeaux is over.

With Becks in the mix full time at Milan, the midfield is once more packed and might not allow for a Gourcuff to get the time and run he needs. With Kaka and Pirlo pulling the strings in the middle of the midfield, Becks will slot out wide, so where do we slot Gourcuff? I think the writing on the wall is that if Gourcuff wants to get any time on the pitch he will either need to have Milan sell of some players - such as Kaka to Manchester City, or hope Milan builds around Gourcuff as the high central midfielder with Pato and Kaka up front, maybe Ronaldino on the wing and Becks on the other, with Pirlo deeper....um....doubtful. Where would Gattusso play how about Seedorf???

I hope that the Beckham deal goes through and that this allows Gourcuff stay at Bordeaux.