The Onion Bag: A Permanent Move for Beckham?
Soccer January 26th. 2009, 2:30pm
Got a Strange Magic: The magic and majesty of the FA Cup embroiled England this weekend. Liverpool drew rival Everton 1-1 for the second time in a week, with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, always discombobulated without two defensive midfielders, hypocritically accusing the other side of small-minded, negative tactics. Cardiff City matched Arsenal for a 0-0 standoff, and last year’s winner Portsmouth got dumped by lower division Swansea. Most magical was my marquee Sunday hangover match on FSC being replaced by non-league side Torquay playing Coventry.
A Golden Goal: David Beckham scored his first goal for AC Milan, placing the cherry atop their 4-1 win over Bologna. More significantly, Becks equivocated afterward when asked about his return to the United States. “I can’t say what will happen,†he told assembled media. “Even if my contract says that I’ll be here until March, we’ll have to see.€Â Beckham must choose between a last hurrah at one of the biggest clubs in the world or a return to ridicule and incompetence with the LA Galaxy. Tough decision.
Messi is God: Barcelona avenged their only league loss of the season, which came in their first match, with a 4-1 dismantling of Numancia. Leo Messi scored two goals, assisted on a third and had a hat-trick attempt hit the cross bar. Extendedly healthy for the first time, he’s drawing undisputed best player in the world praise. Given Ronaldo’s mere marginally awesome form in England, we can’t dispute it.
European Salary Cap Talks: UEFA met with the European Club Association (ECA), starting discussions about limits on both transfer fees and players’ wages. Any potential cap would tie clubs to spending a set percentage of their revenue on either transfers or wages, rather than a hard cap in the American sense. UEFA fears the fallout from the economic crisis, which could be considerable considering that even money printing machines, such as the top four clubs in England, all measure their debt in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Â Any deal would only affect clubs playing in European competition (the Champions League and the UEFA Cup), so Manchester City would still be free to do what they wish.
Goal of the Weekend: Though it would prove meaningless, Jose Barkero vs. Barcelona
10 Responses to “The Onion Bag: A Permanent Move for Beckham?”
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January 26th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
How anyone who consistently deploys Kuyt as a winger for ninety minutes each week can accuse anyone of negative tactics is beyond me. Everton played an incredible defensive game, all credit to them. Benitez has got to go.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Beckham’s US visit was a fraud.
/TBL’d
//America’d
January 26th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Oh, and while the goal probably should have been saved, you will not see many better setups than what Torres provided Gerrard with yesterday. Just absurd
January 26th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
yeah moleman that was embarrassing for howard. looked like he didn’t know whether to use hit feet or hands. but that was a nice through from torres.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
he’s drawing undisputed best player in the world praise. Given Ronaldo’s mere marginally awesome form in England, we can’t dispute it.
Does this mean we are giving up on the Ronaldo “is” Michael Jordan thing?
January 26th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
The ‘worlds best player’ thing really does change every year. It is no coincidence that the Ballon d’Or has not has a repeat winner since Van Basten did it twenty years ago. Ronaldo has not been the same since his ankle surgery, and Messi has finally stayed healthy enough to overtake him. Messi is already a lock for the award this year, but watch someone else win it next year, I’m guessing Aguero.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
no chance beckham goes back to the minor league mls
January 26th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Beckham staying in Milan is potentially a boon for the Galaxy. They can turn his wages and the money they would receive from Milan for a sale into a decent squad. It’s likely they’ll have to replace both Becks and Landycakes.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
So Posh won’t sign with the Spar…. ahhh, never mind.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Someone more versed in MLS than me would probably know this. But, I’m not sure the Galaxy would profit directly from his transfer. I’m not sure whether the DP contracts are owned by the league as a whole, as other contracts are.
That said, Milan aren’t going to pay a large transfer fee for him anyway. They don’t have the money. If they did they wouldn’t have the inclination to do it.
There has been speculation that Beckham has an opt-out clause in his Galaxy contract after the third season. If he does, there is no pressure on Milan to make any offer, because they know they can get him for free in December. I think he either ends up with Milan for a modest fee next summer. Or, he plays a third season in LA and joins Milan for the second half of next season.