Posted on 05/31/2005 9:52:17 AM PDT by cfo
David Beckham has hinted that he may be prepared to play in the United States before he ends his career as signs of his growing popularity in that part of the world were evident ahead of England's friendly international with Colombia.
Beckham was greeted with the kind of media frenzy and flashing light bulbs that have probably not greeted a soccer player in America since the days of Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer in the mid 1970s as he gave his pre-match press conference.
In the immediate term the 30-year-old sees his playing career at Real Madrid and he is prepared to hold talks over a new deal - he has two years left of his current contract - in the summer.
But Beckham, who is launching his soccer academy in Los Angeles later this week, did not rule out the possibility of a spell in the States before he hangs up his boots.
(Excerpt) Read more at soccernet.espn.go.com ...
Thats link to the LA Times roster. There are a bunch of foreign born players (like 8-10 or so), but it does not say if they are international players.
Courthouse. It's on the corner of Courthouse Rd. and Wilson Blvd.
Usually behind the goal, dressed in red :'P
The inside word is that it won't be ready until 2011.
Yeah, US soccer stadiums would be better suited to follow an English D1, D2 model with close seating and maybe a capacity of 15-40k.
I walked into that one.
IIRC, don't some of the MLS teams have their own stadiums that follow this model?
RFK is functional, but it's not great for either soccer nor baseball.
Not that I dislike football, it's just a distraction--and ugly.
Well, after reading all the posts I especially need an explanation.
Ping Colonel!
If Bekham played for the US,AYSO would crap itself with all the new cash!
I didn't think this team would amount to much. Creating a team just for the rivalry just dilutes the club side.
I agree. They should have loaned him out to another club if they wern't going to play him. The player who scored both goals for England on Saturday plays for West Bromwich on loan from Man U. Many of our top players didn't play in Saturdays
game.
Not sure where you got that link. Here is where I got that info on Ramirez.
http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/bio.jsp?team=cdc&player=ramirez_r&playerId=ram286886
Thanks for the ping! By the time Beckham is ready to come here, though, he'll be something less than he is now. Players like Pele and Beckenbauer, great as they were, came here on much the same terms.
Just one more reason for me to be happy to have FSC and GolTV on my satellite system. :)
Thanks, MoJo! :)
I prefer the Brazilian-Argentine style of play to America or Europe, but I love seeing vastly different styles and strategies go head-to-head.
I hope the MLS continues to improve and gain more widespread popularity--which won't be easy, given the established sports media aversion (not enough commercials).
I read two days ago that he wants to finish his career in Madrid!
I'm not saying that the US don't have a decent team, but the FIFA rankings are misleading. They depend on results, and most of the USA's games are against Canada and the Central American and Carribean nations. They're not exactly top-drawer. If the US played in the European qualifiers, they'd be ranked lower, although it might help in the long run, with regular competitive meetings against top tier teams improving their standard.
Perhaps, but then again, maybe not -- the US did finish top-8 in the 2002 World Cup, losing to the eventual runners-up. I agree that CONCANF is nowhere near as challenging as UEFA, but other than a loss in Mexico City, the US is doing what good teams should do, and that is win consistently against lesser opponents (someone please explain this concept, by the way, to Liverpool, who managed to win the UEFA Champions League while finishing 5th in their regular league).
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