LA Galaxy 1 Real Madrid 4

It was the first time that Beckham had played against Real Madrid since leaving Spain four years ago. Although it took half an hour for Madrid to get the first goal, The Galaxy were no match for 'The Galacticos' and succumbed to obvious superiority. Ten minutes later they were 2-0 down and heading for half-time changes. Donovan came off for The Galaxy while Ronaldo came on for Madrid - 15 minutes later it was 4-0 to Real and Beckham completed his hour-long stint and was also substituted. Five minutes later, The Galaxy made a great attack and Cristman took advantage of some poor goal-keeping to head the ball home for The Galaxy and give them a little pride in their performance.

This was never a true match up, as Real Madrid start off their pre-season and Bruce Arena used the opportunity to throw a few lower-roster players into the mix. Nevertheless, the match served to indicate the current Spanish superiority when it comes to Football at both club and international level.

Steve McClaren sacked

The FA have today sacked Steve McClaren from his job as England coach following the failure of the England team to qualify for Euro 2008. There was not much doubt that this would be inevitable, and there was no guarantee that McClaren's position would heve remained tenable even if the team had qualified.
The search for a new manager can now go public. So far I have seen speculation about Fabio Capello (former Real Madrid coach) and Martin O'Niell (Aston Villa). Hopefully this issue will be resolved swiftly so that England can rebuild in time for the next world cup. There is also some speculation that out-of-work Jose Mourinho could be in line for the job, which would be a bold choice indeed!!
Watch this space for developing news and speculation on how this will effect David Beckham and the England team.

Beckham stakes his claim in the US

David Beckham calls time on his days as a Real Madrid player, despite being recently out of favour, his performance at the end of the season left Real wondering if they should have tried harder to keep Beckham on contract for a little longer. In the final season as a Real Madrid player, he has played a significant role in Madrid's success in winning the league trophy.
His move from Manchester to Madrid in 2003 was almost predictable as one of the few clubs that could handle a player like Beckham, with maybe a top Italian or Spanish club being the only other prospects. However the move to the USA as a career move is somewhat less predictable in terms of football played on the pitch. Looking at the wider picture however reveals the huge challenge of bringing soccer into the mainstream of American life.
Having had to forego his 'lucky' number 7 jersey at Madrid, due to the fact that Raul already laid claim to it, number 23 was chosen as the successor... This has continued with the 23 shirt being his number at his new club LA Galaxy.