Category: Soccer (Page 26 of 29)

      Beckham wants release from Galaxy to stay in Milan

      February 5, 2009 /

      beckhamDavid Bekcham’s three-month stint in Italy playing for Serie A team AC Milan will conclude on March 8. Apparently, he’s had so much fun playing for the club that he wants out of his five-year $32.5 million MLS contract, of which he still has three years remaining.

      “At the moment my lawyers are not talking to the Galaxy but I have expressed my desire to stay at AC Milan now and it’s just down to Milan and Galaxy to come to an agreement,” Beckham said. “I have enjoyed my time here. I knew I would enjoy it but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I have and do as well as I have.”

      Since arriving, Beckham has scored twice and helped to lift Milan up to second place in the Serie A standings.

      He has also been included in Milan’s 25-man roster for UEFA Cup games against Werder Bremen on Feb. 18 and 26.

      “I’ve expressed my desire to stay here for a while but at the moment I’m still a Galaxy player,” Beckham said. “I respect the Galaxy and everything they have done for me. They have always been great to me.

      “But I hope they can come to an agreement and it’s down to the clubs now. At this point it’s out of my hands. I’ve said what my feelings are to both clubs.”

      Honestly, I can’t blame him. I think we all saw this coming from the beginning. It’s kind of like when you’re in elementary school and you play basketball with your friends at recess or lunch. But your friends aren’t very good and you, well, you rock. Then one day some of the older and better players ask you to join them for a game. You have the choice of playing in a much more demanding and exciting competition or you could stay and play “Horse” for the umpteenth time with your friends. So, you compromise and tell your friends that it will just be one game. Of course you have the time of your life, knock down a couple buckets and get a pat on the back from the star sixth-grader. Then you tell your friends you will only play at recess. Then you’re telling them you’ll catch up with them walking home after school.

      In this case, while Beckham has done well and made friends in the MLS, the league doesn’t offer the same experience as the EPL. Also, this isn’t about money, as Beckham would probably make less if he continued to play for AC Milan. There’s just a lot less pressure for Beckham when playing in Europe. He already established himself as a world-class player when playing for Manchester United so he doesn’t have to act like the poster child for a league like he does with the MLS. When he came over to the U.S., most Americans simply associated him with that movie and his hot wife. He really is a great player and frankly, he’s better than the MLS.

      Think about it – would you rather play with Ronaldhino in beautiful Milan or (insert unknown player name here) in Los Angeles?

      Soccer

      Galaxy get a makeover

      January 23, 2009 /

      arenaThink the Yankees were bad? Over the past few months, new Los Angeles Galaxy coach and GM Bruce Arena has cut 11 players, only to bring in 10 new ones.

      The Galaxy has failed to make the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, so Arena is stocking the Home Depot Center with a new cast of characters.

      “I already see that we have a better infusion of talent than we had last year,” Arena said, the Day 1 huffing and puffing of his far-from-fully-fit players notwithstanding.

      For (Tony) Sanneh, a World Cup starter for the U.S. in 2002, it is a comeback attempt of sorts. He is 37 and last played professionally in 2007.

      On the first day, the standing part was simple. The running was not.

      “It’s just a matter of age. We’ll see if I can do it. Some guys can and some guys can’t. Preki [now the Chivas USA coach] was MVP at 41.”

      It is not just a matter of changing personnel that will restore the Galaxy’s fortunes, there are intangibles too.

      Forward Jovan Kirovski, who played on the Galaxy’s 2005 MLS championship-winning team before being traded to the Colorado Rapids, is back and sees a difference in the players’ mood.

      “It’s a totally different attitude,” he said. “Just stepping into the locker room, it’s totally different.”

      Kirovski, who was acquired in November, can play as a forward or in midfield.

      “I actually tried to get this move,” he said. “My family is here. I wanted to come back to L.A. I know Bruce from before [with the U.S. national team] and he knows me. I think I can help the team. It worked out. Hopefully, we can turn this thing around and get back to the playoffs every year. With the talent we have, we should be.”

      I love how the article fails to mention the dollar amount of any of these transactions. Whereas the deals of CC Sabathia and Mark Teixiera were highly publicized, the salaries of most MLS players never make headlines. Unless your last name is Beckham or Donovan, these new players, though talented, will be making less than $200,000. I know that’s more than most of us make, but when compared to the heavyweights over in the MLB, the MLS players are below the poverty line.

      Fact is, the big markets need to win to attract an audience. I’m referring to the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls. When teams like the Columbus Crew win the MLS Cup, that achievement can only spread so far in terms of sales. When the Galaxy or Red Bulls win, more people care, because their audience is larger. When the MLS reaches the fan base of the NHL, then will it be safer for a smaller market team to win.

      These changes are good. After failing to make the playoffs with Beckham, the Galaxy needed to re-tool. When the Galaxy does well, so does the MLS.

      Soccer

      L.A. Galaxy to overhaul team at MLS Draft

      January 15, 2009 /

      draftWhile baseball fans eagerly hang on to every miniscule transaction during the offseason, the MLS Draft is the real place where significant headway is made. Whereas drafts from the other major professional sports pull players out of their respective collegiate pool, the MLS Draft contains players from all over the world as well as the NCAA. Even though the league is in its fourteenth season, it is still struggling to find its identity. That’s why teams like the L.A. Galaxy will be looking to revamp the bulk of their team during today’s draft, which is happening right now on ESPN2.

      Assuming that David Beckham returns from AC Milan and Landon Donovan comes back from Bayern Munich, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena needs to find nine other starters to make the team competitive in 2009.

      Already, Arena has found one — Jamaican national team goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who was signed in December.

      One move the Galaxy made Wednesday was to acquire New York Red Bulls’ midfielder/forward Mike Magee, a 2003 first-round draft pick who played for Arena in New York. Magee, 24, was a starter on the Red Bulls team that reached the MLS Cup final last season. The Galaxy gave up a second-round pick in the 2010 draft for Magee.

      Arena is there, along with Galaxy assistant coach Cobi Jones and Tom Payne, the team’s president of business operations. The Galaxy has five picks in the draft, but only the first-round pick — and the third pick overall — is worth anything.

      Because of the Galaxy’s salary-cap issue — with Beckham and Donovan accounting for a significant share — Arena could also be tempted by one of the 2009 Generation Adidas players (nine young players identified by MLS as likely future stars and who do not count against cap).

      In that case, University of Akron forward Steve Zakuani, who led the nation in goals in 2008, could be the target. But Zakuani is projected as the likely No. 1 draft pick and, if so, would be gone by the time the Galaxy makes it first selection.

      Zakuani, already targeted by English clubs, reportedly has been guaranteed a contract worth between $150,000 and $200,000 by MLS.

      Generation Adidas Players? Looks the MLS is wising up and has realized that a $2.8 million salary cap is ludicrous if you want to draw established (i.e. foreign) talent into the league. In other news, due to David Beckham’s popularity, teams can now have up to four designated players that total up to $20 million in salary. So, these are your A-Rods, Sabathias, and Mannys. However, if the franchise elects for this option, the remaining members of the team will then have a cap of $100,000. What?

      Sounds like the MLS is still severely confused. They’re split between trying to run a league that cultivates young players into stars on the cheap and attempting to become an instant success with expensive European talent.

      Just drop the cap. If anything, try to land a blue chip European talent on every team. Then continue paying the young players and mid-level stars the same wages they’ve always been paid, which is next to nothing compared to other sports.

      Soccer

      Digging into home field advantage

      January 15, 2009 /

      In the Jan. 12 issue of ESPN the Magazine, Peter Keating breaks down a number of different reasons why teams enjoy an advantage at home. The entire article is worth a read (though you’ll have to buy a copy since the article isn’t available online), but the part that jumped out at me was a study that was done on soccer officials back in 2007.

      In every major pro sport over the past five years, home teams have benefited from a differential in calls made by the officials. Before you send irate e-mails to David Stern or Roger Goodell about zebras on the take, know this: Researchers say it’s likely that officials are subconsciously channeling fans’ preferences. “Referees get a lot of abuse, and as far as crowds are concerned, the only good decisions they make are those that help the home team,” says Paul Ward, a cognitive psychologist at Florida State. “If you’re looking for a way to deal with the stress of quick decisionmaking, favoring the home team is a way to reduce anxiety”

      To test this hypothesis, Ward and his colleagues strapped a group of soccer refs, coaches and players to EKGs and asked them to call videotaped games. Half watched games with crowd noise, the other half without. The results, published in 2007, showed that the participants subjected to crowd noise reported more mental anxiety–and called 21% fewer fouls on the home team.

      Bingo! This is why the intensity of crowds generates an advantage for home athletes. More fan frenzy equals more ref anxiety.

      It makes sense that if an official is calling a game in front of a packed house of 20,000 screaming fans, that it’s not unlikely that the ref will eventually bend to the fans’ will. They may have every good intention of calling the game right down the line, but it’s human nature to try to reduce your own stress, and the easiest way to do that is to make the people around you happy.

      So if you’re ever at a game and wondering if it’s worth the effort to stand up and cheer (or boo your fool head off), now you have your answer.

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