Milan contract signed

The deal for Beckham to join Milan on loan has been signed. David officially joins Milan on January 7th 2009 until an unspecified date. The over-riding feeling is that he has a commitment to rejoin the MLS and will return in due course. The new MLS season starts in March. Cappello has been vocal in supporting Beckhams loan move, suggesting that this could be a good thing for both Milan and for Beckham. He also took the chance to praise Beckhams' professionalism and commitment to football.

In light of the deal, The Galaxy have postponed the off-season game against Queensland Roar in Brisbane on December 11th as they cannot guarantee Beckham's availability. However, the fixture against an 'Oceania All-Star' team in New Zealand on 6th December will still go ahead.

Apparently intense negotiations have been taking place over the most valuable asset that Beckham brings to a new club: his image rights....
This in a week when he has publicly told off clubs for paying youngsters too much and snuffing their ambition early. To be fair, he has a point, young players can be very well off indeed without even getting to be part of the first team, but for a man who is supposed to be worth £125m. he had to choose his words carefully.

Dallas 2 LA 2

Buddle opened the scoring on 21 minutes from a Beckham assist, but only about ten minutes later and in the space of five minutes, FC Dallas drew level and then pulled ahead at 2-1. Beckham played despite picking up an injury in training, and having missed a couple of days training before the match. Galaxy player Pires received a straight red for studs showing in the tackle just before half-time, and Beckham got a yellow for dissent.

Second half and the ref evens up the teams by sending off a Dallas player for a second yellow. Galaxy take advantage and press the Dallas goal with little traffic coming the other way. there are plenty of set-plays for Beckham to have a go at, but for half-an-hour there was no positive result. Jordan came on half-way through the half to add some 'bite' up front and Beckham moved to a more central position.
In the 78th minute, The Galaxy won a penalty as reward for their constant pressure, Donovan made no mistake from the spot at evened up the scores at 2-2.
the Galaxy continued to press for the winner and were certainly the better team with a higher attacking work-rate in the second half. In a nice gesture, Beckham hands Vanney the captains armband for the last minute of stoppage time.
LA take nothing from the season other than some hard lessons, Donovan takes a well-deserved Golden Boot trophy for his impressive goal tally.

Beckham confirmed loan to Milan

Capello has said that no player who is not in regular first team football can be considered for the England squad and Beckham has responded by lining up a loan spell at AC Milan foir the MLS off-season. Unlike the training stint at Arsenal last season, this time Beckham will be available to play both in the domestic league and in European competitions.
This is an exciting development for Beckham followers and a real chance for Beckham to show that he has something to offer even though he has not been able to drag The Galaxy into the play-offs this year.
Obviously Milan believe that Beckham has something to offer, and hopefully we will be able to see this demonstrated on the pitch at a very high-level very soon. Beckham will be expected to leave for Milan after this weekend with the last game of the season yet to be played for The Galaxy. There are some off-season Galaxy exhibition matches to be played just like there were last year and Beckham is bound to be part of those plans.

Beckham Rumours

Beckham spent time at Arsenal at the end of last season, this time it looks like the Beckhams will be packing their suitcases for Milan.
There are rumours that he will stay in Europe after the break, but then there were rumours last time that he would join a premiership team.
I think that we must assume that Beckham will be at the Galaxy next year, but there are some factors to consider:
Has the Beckham 'experiment' worked for the Galaxy? - has he made a significant enough impact at the Galaxy and on the MLS?
In reply you have to say he has not been able to deliver results though he has remained in place even while Ruud Gullit has come and gone...
Has the MLS experience worked for Beckham?
I believe that there are positives and negatives here, certainly he has had an impact on the MLS and quite possibly opened the door for some quality players to follow his lead. Whether it has really helped his game is questionable. It must be frustrating to not be able to deliver on expectation and that has to affect his state of mind. He has managed to keep his place (actually regain it) in the England squad despite strong feelings that this would not be possible - so there are some positives to come out of it.
The question remains then, does Beckham see himself as a real contender in European football, or will he settle down to see out his career in the MLS. Surely a major aim now would be to play as much part in the World Cup as he possibly can, and he has shown that he can do that whilst playing for The Galaxy and I'm not sure he's ready to give up the MLS just yet at least while he cannot say it has been a success.

Houston 3 Los Angeles 0

In a game lacking David Beckham, LA were unlucky, but nevertheless crumbled within twenty minutes proving woefully inadequate once again in defence. After just 13 minutes a low ball into the box was back-heeled into the Galaxy net by a Galaxy player under pressure. Time and time again, the Houston attack swept through the Galaxy defence leaving them wide open at the back.
Houston added to their lead in the 20th and 23rd minute leaving Galaxy little chance of getting back into the game.
If the defence were poor, the attack were unlucky not to get the ball in the net at the other end, hitting post and bar and deserving maybe a couple of goals out of the tie. One is left assuming that the Galaxy philosophy is that they will score more goals so they don't need a tight defence - todays lesson is that when you are not getting the luck of the bounce in attack, you need a defence that is not going to leach goals at the other end. You can't guarantee that even the best attacking line up is going to net you three goals every time, however as it stands right now you wouldn't get good odds if you tried to lay a bet on the Galaxy conceding at least two goals in every match.
Disappointing is the word that sums this performance up, Galaxy miss the Play-offs again, and the investment in David Beckham has not produced the results the fans were hoping for.

Belarus 1 England 3

In the final game in the run of four World Cup qualifiers to be played this year, England added to their impressive tally of goals. This result means that England have scored 14 goals in the four games, 12 of them in the second half...
Rooney's personal tally is four goals in the last two games, but it was Gerard that set the game alight after just 11 minutes. Taking the ball from Rooney's feet, he placed it expertly past the 'keeper for England's opener, but Belarus were not going to be easily beaten and turned to attack. Just 17 minutes later, Belarus strung together 23 passes bamboozling the England defence and drew level with a great headed goal.

Rooney was magnificent once again, as was Heskey up front. For England's second goal, Heskey had taken up a left-sided role and easily beat his defender passing the ball dangerously across the box. Rooney had been weaving in and out of an off-side position and expertly guided the ball past the keeper from close range after just 5 minutes of the second half.
Rooney scored again on 75 minutes this time Gerard threaded the ball through the defence to Rooney's feet, Rooney danced past a defender and finished with the coolest chip you will ever see in front of goal.
Beckham put in a cameo appearance replacing Rooney for the last few minutes shortly after Gerard missed a golden chance to add to England's tally. He expertly rounded the keeper but used the outside of his right boot instead of his left and hit the post instead of the back of the open net.
Encourgingly this was just one of many chances that England had, demonstrating that they are now a creative team. Defensive errors are letting us down a little and the return of John Terry to the back four cannot happen too soon.

Beckham boots on eBay

Reports are emerging that items from the Beckham's home in Hertfordshire have appeared on global auction site eBay. Two house-keepers have been questioned by police about the alleged theft, items were brought to the attention of Victoria Beckhams' parents. It then transpired that matching items were missing from Rowneybury House. Items include some of Victoria's clothes and a pair of David's boots. Three people have been arrested in relation to this matter, the third being the son of the two house-keepers.
The Beckham's reside in Beverley Hills but have maintained the mansion in Sawbridgeworth, Herts as a base. Hopefully this upset won't affect Beckham's mindset for the upcoming England game.

Rapids 2 Galaxy 3

An open game from which Beckham was missing through international duty, but Donovan was on the bench after having played for the USA the night before...
Rapids started well, pressuring the Galaxy goal, but it was Galaxy who went ahead through Buddle, with a great reply from the Rapids' Gibbs who beat the 'keeper with a fine glancing header from a corner kick.
The first half ended honours-even and one-all, but with the promise of more goals to come. In the second half, a second goal for Galaxy came from a free kick far out on the right hand side of the box, the ball found the back of the net from a defender trying to shepherd the ball away but ending up chesting it into his own goal.
Rookie Brandon McDonald chalked up his first goal in the MLS taking The Galaxy into a three-one lead with a scorching shot from fully thirty yards which tucked into the corner - a night for him to remember.
The Galaxy gave away a penalty with three minutes to go and the Rapids took the opportunity to cut back the lead to 3-2, but there were no more goals to come and the Galaxy ran out victors in the end. The Galaxy will need to put together an unbeaten run now if they want to get to the playoffs - next game on Saturday against Houston, Beckham may be available...

England 5 Kazakhstan 1

In a first half in which the Gerrard/Lampard combination was tried again... no goals were forthcoming. England very comfortable on the ball, in control once more, but just not creating enough clear chances in front of goal. The first half demonstrated the speed of Walcott and work-rate of Rooney who played on the left and fairly deep much of the time.
For the second-half, Wright-Phillips was brought on for Barry demonstrating more of an attacking intent. The second half did not start particularly well with the England defensive door being fully opened to allow Kazakhstan to attack down the left and miss a chance in the goal-mouth. Shortly after that a corner for England was met by Ferdinand's head for a simple set-piece goal. Kazakhstan continued to push, but an England free-kick brought a second goal, an own-goal from Lampards free-kick.
A horrendous error on 68 mins by Ashley Cole provided Kazakhstan with a golden oppotunity to shoot from within the penalty area, the resulting goal shocked the crowd so much so that some began to ridicule Cole.
Late on, Rooney gave England a third on 77 mins as he headed a Walcott cross past the keeper before Beckham took the field. Another set piece saw a Beckham free-kick providing another chance for Rooney and another goal for England just 9 minutes later. On 90 mins, Defoe was put through by Heskey for him to slot the ball past the keeper for England's fifth

Beckham in England squad

Michael Owen didn't make the cut - these are the chosen ones for the games against Kazakhstan and Belarus:

England squad: James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Carson (West Brom); Brown (Manchester United), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Lescott (Everton), Upson (West Ham), A Cole (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea); Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Walcott (Arsenal), Barry (Aston Villa), Jenas (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Downing (Middlesbrough), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Heskey (Wigan), Crouch (Portsmouth), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Portsmouth).

more here...

Columbus Crew 1 LA Galaxy 0

In a game with chances at either end, it was a defensive error close to the end of the first half that gave Columbus the only goal of the match. The statistics sheet only recorded 3 shots on target for each team, and you would really expect more than that from the combined force of Buddle and Donovan alone.
This match was between the team at the top of the Eastern Conference against the galaxy who now sit at the bottom of the Western Conference with an ever-fading hope of reaching the play-offs.
The Galaxy defence showed improvement in this game managing to shutout most of the Crew's efforts, as unusually for the Galaxy, it was the front men that didn't come up with the goods in this game. Getting the balance right is proving to be a headache for Bruce Arena, and you have to wonder if he will be managing the team next season if the team fails to reach the play-offs.