Beckham 1 goal 3 assists

[Frank Cunha]

two assists on the last game for England national team

Soccer365

[LaVecchiaSignora]

LONDON (AP) -- David Beckham's successful return to the England team could be Major League Soccer's loss.

While MLS and the Los Angeles Galaxy say they are happy that Beckham has resumed his international career, the former national team captain could miss six more games for his new club as he tries to get his country to the 2008 European Championship.



"I've already said that LA Galaxy will do everything possible to keep me playing for my country and I suppose you could say that in my two games back we're unbeaten," Beckham said after two of his trademark crosses set up goals in England's 3-0 Group E victory at Estonia on Wednesday.

Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas says Beckham's statement that the MLS club would allow him to play for his country was "absolutely 100 percent correct."

"We consider it an incredible honor to have our players playing for their national team, and think it's a wonderful statement on David Beckham and the L.A. Galaxy," Lalas said.

The problem for Galaxy fans is that England's next six matches, including an Aug. 22 friendly against Germany at Wembley, clash with MLS games.

Under contract to Real Madrid, Beckham is already missing the first half of the MLS season. If he's called up each time by England, he will be away for six more.

The day after the match against Germany, the Galaxy faces Chivas USA. On the same day, Sept. 8, that England hosts Israel in a Euro 2008 match, the Galaxy plays Colorado. England hosts group rival Russia four days later and the Galaxy takes on Chivas on Sept. 13. England hosts Estonia Oct. 13 when the Galaxy meets Toronto and, when England goes to Russia four days later, the LA team is preparing for a visit to the New York Red Bulls on Oct. 18.

Then, if the Galaxy makes it to the MLS Cup Nov. 18, Beckham may be needed for England's Nov. 21 game at home to Croatia.

Even on the games that don't clash, it seems inconceivable that Beckham could play a game in Europe, fly up to 6,000 miles and play another the following day.

Wednesday's victory at Estonia was Beckham's first competitive game for his country since the World Cup. He was dropped by coach Steve McClaren and only recalled two weeks ago. He missed nine England games but has starred for Real Madrid in its surge toward a possible Spanish league title. Beckham can win his first major trophy with Real Madrid if the team beats Zaragoza -- and FC Barcelona and Sevilla lose -- this weekend in the Spanish league.

"I'd love to be in the next squad and Steve has made that clear: if I'm performing and playing like I've been playing recently, I'll be in the squad," said Beckham, who has now played 96 times for England and hopes to become the fifth to reach 100 appearances.

"Of course there's always pressure about staying in the team. But am I on trial? I'm not sure about that."

Fans must be wondering why he was left out in the first place. Beckham has made major contributions in three of his past four appearances for his country.

And yet, McClaren remains noncommittal on whether Beckham has re-established his place in the team.

"We'll see when the next squad is announced (in August)," McClaren said. "He answers everyone with his performance on the field. I think he's done that in the last two games."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SI.com - Soccer - Beckham confident LA Galaxy will let him play for England - Thursday June 7, 2007 2:35PM

[Frank Cunha]

LA terrible season could short Beckham season

reported in today's portuguese newspaper
**abola.pt - «A BOLA on-line»

[Frank Cunha]

soccer365.com latest news

AMERICAN NEWS: MLS





Lalas - EPL A Lot Of Hype
Tuesday June 19 2007
David Beckham will be bigger in the United States than Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan, Los Angeles Galaxy boss Alexi Lalas has predicted.

Adu Warns Of Beckham Mis-Hype
Tuesday June 19 2007
Real Salt Lake playmaker Freddy Adu has suggested some folks should probably keep their David Beckham expectations in check as the England star gets set to arrive to MLS.

Lalas Hits Out At Holiday Talk
Tuesday June 19 2007
Los Angeles general manager has taken overseas observers to task for continuing to refer to David Beckham’s MLS arrival as a sign the star midfielder is hoping to take it easy in Hollywood.

Galaxy In Dark On Becks Injury
Tuesday June 19 2007
Los Angeles Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas will be paying close attention to any updates from Spain on David Beckham's condition after the player's final game for Real Madrid was cut short by injury.

[LaVecchiaSignora]

David Beckham will be officially introduced as the newest member of the Los Angeles Galaxy on July 13 at the team's stadium in Carson.


Beckham, currently vacationing after helping Real Madrid win the Spanish League title, will arrive in Los Angeles a few days before his introductory news conference and first training session with the MLS team.

Beckham is expected to make his playing debut in an exhibition against England's Chelsea on July 21 at Home Depot Center.

Appearing with the 32-year-old midfielder at the news conference will be MLS commissioner Don Garber, Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas, coach Frank Yallop and Tim Leiweke, president of AEG, which operates the team

The Galaxy could use a boost one-third of the way through its season. The team's 2-5-3 record is second-worst in the league.

Meanwhile, Victoria Beckham is set to make a splash on U.S. television three days later when NBC airs a one-hour special titled "Victoria Beckham: Coming to America" on July 16.

The show will follow the soccer star's wife as she prepares to move from Europe to the United States with her husband.

Initially, NBC had announced a six-episode series in February that would air during the summer. However, Victoria Beckham's shooting time was limited by her and the couple's three children spending time in Europe as Beckham wound down his playing career there.

So NBC decided it had enough footage to air a one-hour special. Among the executive producers is Simon Fuller, who managed the Spice Girls pop group that launched Victoria Beckham to fame.

;

[Frank Cunha]

9 days and count for Beckham debut
Major League Soccer: Home: The Official Site of Major League Soccer

[LaVecchiaSignora]

Sweet...better be on TV! This will be fun to watch...maybe LA will win a game! haha

[LaVecchiaSignora]

What will his first match be...the Tigres UANL match? Or is he not going to play until league matches resume? They usually play bench players in US Open cup/Superliga matches...at least they did when i went to see them?

[Frank Cunha]

3 days and count

here is the schedule for the month of July

07/10 - Tuesday @ Richmond Kickers % 4:00 p.m. ...
07/17 - Tuesday Tigres UANL * 5:30 p.m. TeleFutura
Thursday, July 19
2007 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City, CO
MLS All-Stars Celtic FC 6:00 p.m. ... ESPN2, TeleFutura
07/21 - Saturday Chelsea FC * 5:30 p.m. ESPN, 1330 AM
07/24 - Tuesday Pachuca # 8:00 p.m.
07/28 - Saturday CD Guadalajara ## 7:00 p.m.
07/31 - Tuesday @ FC Dallas # 5:00 p.m. ...

[Daniel24]

Beckham another bright light in L.A.


David Beckham (right) waves to fans while walking with Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas (Kevork Djansezian/AP)

Major League Soccer: News: Article

[Daniel24]

Beckham to clock up air miles

David Beckham is set to collect even more air miles after the Los Angeles Galaxy's owners revealed they are planning to send the team on lucrative tours to boost revenue.

Beckham is facing plenty of travel time already following his England recall, with the midfield star looking at near 11,000-mile round trips between his new home in Los Angeles and London to report for international duty as Steve McClaren's team bid to reach the European Championship finals.

The Galaxy have already lined up a friendly in Australia at the end of the Major League Soccer season in late November and Tim Leiweke, chief executive and president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) - who own the Galaxy - revealed other money-spinning games are being lined up for England and Asia next year.

Referring to reports Real Madrid were being offered six million US dollars (£3million) a game to play exhibition matches in Asia, Leiweke told reporters at the Home Depot Center: 'I think the greatest opportunity for the Galaxy is touring and doing international matches.

'I don't think it is six million dollars a game but I think it could be a pretty good percentage of that.

'And if you can do six games a year, that can add a significant amount of value to the team and its revenue.'

The Galaxy will play Sydney FC at the 83,500-seat Telstra Stadium on November 27 and Leiweke added: 'We have the Australian dates locked

'We have a couple of dates in the US that we're going to do and we're mindful of giving David some rest so we're trying to be a little focused on making sure we don't overload the schedule this year.

'We're still focused on training in Asia and doing games there next year at the beginning of the season and I think it's more than likely we're going to take a trip over to `Jolly Old' [England] and do a game or two over there next year as well.'

Leiweke claimed his emphasis on lucrative friendlies stemmed in part from the inability to expand the Home Depot Center beyond its current 27,000 capacity without entering into a complex and time-consuming planning process.

He reiterated his ambition to catapult the Galaxy into the top tier of world club football during the period of Beckham's time at the club.

'I've already stated that we'd like to be considered one of the top clubs in the world and that means there's that mystical 100million dollar (£50million) revenue stream that we want to try and get into that classification,' he said.

'I think that would designate us as one of the more significant and relevant clubs in the world.

'From a competitive standpoint, I think we're going to go through a bit of a learning curve.

'You can't expect that we're going to beat Chelsea or Chivas Guadalajara right off the bat. We're not quite at that level but we'd like to get to that level in the next four or five years.

'But I've always felt the biggest, most important thing that David can do above and beyond the exposure, the media coverage, the sponsorships, the dollars, the ticket sales - can David ultimately prove to a lot of other players around the world that it's okay to come and play in this league, that the quality of play, our facilities and in particular, the fan support for soccer in this country is there.

'If that happens then David has left a legacy that is probably more in impact and standing than Pele did with the North American Soccer League.

'But I think we're going to have to work hard to get to the next level. The 100million mark is not just thrown out there without understanding the consequences.

'As well as we're doing this year, we have to double our revenue and that's going to be a challenge because, as I've explained, it's not probably going to be driven by the gate here because of the restrictions from an attendance standpoint.'

The AEG chief executive explained television viewing figures for Saturday's sold-out Chelsea friendly, when Beckham is due to make his Galaxy debut, would have a big bearing on how much clout the club would have when it came to re-negotiating broadcast rights contracts.

He said: 'If David has the impact we think he's going to have and our ratings do what we think they're going to do then there is a good re-negotiation coming in the future for some of our packages.

'Some of our packages expire in four years, some in eight years, so clearly there's some upside there.'

ESPNsoccernet - MLS - Beckham to clock up air miles

[Daniel24]

Beckham: Real can be our inspiration

David Beckham has told his Los Angeles Galaxy team-mates to use Real Madrid as the inspiration for turning around their Major League Soccer season.

Beckham joins a Galaxy side that has struggled in 2007, winning just three games in the league and getting knocked out of the US Open Cup by a semi-professional side two divisions beneath the MLS.

Frank Yallop's men are second from bottom in the MLS Western standings, albeit with games in hand.

The made Beckham recall his experience with the Spanish champions last season, when the Bernabeu side lost three of their last four games before the winter break - including an upset 3-0 home defeat to Recreativo Huelva - which left the side five points off the title pace.

Of the Galaxy's predicament, Beckham said: 'It doesn't concern me at all.

'Halfway through the season, people were saying in Spain that we were never going to win La Liga and at the end we ended up winning La Liga.

'Things at the moment here with the Galaxy are tough and we're not doing that well in the league but you have to take in to consideration that we have had players out injured and on international duty. Now they're back.'

Beckham stressed the importance of a squad effort in turning things around at the Galaxy, again drawing on his past club experiences.

He added: 'It's not just about one player in the team. It's always been about 11 players and more than 11.

'It proved that in 1999 when we won three trophies for Manchester United and last year for Real Madrid where the top scorer in our team, Ruud van Nistelrooy, came off.

'And then I came off and another player came off and then [Jose Antonio] Reyes - who hadn't played for a few games and people were talking about him being out of favour - came on and won the game and we won the title.

'So it's not just about me as a footballer, it's about the whole squad.'

Beckham also looked to the longer term and his hopes that American teams could one day compete on the same level as the top European clubs.

He said: 'Hopefully in the next few years but who knows? If it's possible then it would be great.

'Obviously, we're looking at the long-term prospects more than anything else, about the American kids coming through as well.

'That's good for the game in America and that's good for the national team in America.

'People have said it would be great one day to see the US win the World Cup and if that's going to happen then you have to have homegrown talent like we've had in England, like there is throughout the world.

'That's the big thing for soccer in the US.'

ESPNsoccernet - MLS - Beckham: Real can be our inspiration

[Daniel24]

L.A. the spot for family man Beckham

The city of Los Angeles is often dismissed for its seemingly laissez-faire attitude and viewed more as a destination for fun than a foundation for family yet one very prominent and new Angeleno said it was the very place to bring his brood.

"I think it is the right place to bring up children and raise them. That is very important to us as parents," Beckham said. "We believe that we've always made decisions that were good for our children as well. (L.A.) is a great place to bring up kids and a great place for us as parents and for us as well."

Beckham and wife Victoria, the former Posh Spice, have garnered tremendous attention, both individually and as a couple, for a glamorous lifestyle that has taken them around the world and recently landed them in a Beverly Hills mansion.

But the region's latest superstar said he'd just as soon take a dip in his swimming pool and wear a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops as he would wear a tailored suit and be treated as a sensation like he was Friday at his introductory press conference.

Major League Soccer: News: Article

[jec1]

Beckhams countdown to failure.

I want to be positive hoping that he can change the soccer perspective here in NA but I have my doubts. I'm optimistic that they will sell tickets but he is past his prime and really spending all that money is going make him lazy.

Plus, Now the becks have a new reality show, so I question why they went to L.A in the first place.