MLS Stunner

This will most likely go down as the second biggest story of the year in Major League Soccer and hardly anybody will know about it. Last night, the Toronto F.C., an expansion team who didn’t score a goal in their first four games, overcame the defending champion Houston Dynamo 1-0 in front of nearly 20.000 rain-soaked fans. While it may be one of the lower leagues in the soccer world and doesn’t have the visibility of the higher end North American leagues, it should be noted any time that an expansion team beats a defending champ, it’s going to be a news story. The Toronto Sun even went as far as running a photo on their cover from the game.

This won’t even come close to topping the Beckham saga in newsy-ness, but it goes to show that anything can happen in the world of sports.

Beckham goes down!

Everyone in the MLS, every member of the Los Angeles Galaxy squad and every fan of soccer in North America will be disappointed by this turn of events. During Real Madrid’s game vs. Getafe on Sunday, Beckham injured a ligament in his knee and will miss some time. While it doesn’t appear to be too serious, it’s never an easy sight to watch your quarter-billion dollar man go down while playing for a different team. Reports are conflicting regarding the amount of time that Becks will miss with some saying a month, others saying two months and others going with indefinite. At least now he won’t have very much of an opportunity to injury himself and actually miss some MLS playing time.

Notes from the Soccer World

Zidane to Red Bulls?

Apparently, Zizuo himself was in attendance for a recent Knicks and even had a conversation with Knicks die-hard fan Spike Lee. This only throws fuel onto the fire that Zidane will come to play MLS ball in the near future. Could you even imagine what Zidane and Spike would talk about? I actually have no idea.

Beckham Playing?

Apparently Real Madrid is pretty hard up since they're now contemplating putting David Beckham back on their squad. After the announcement of Becks signing his mega-deal with Los Angeles, Madrid's manager decided to keep him off the pitch but still on the practice squad. I don't know about you, but every second Beckham's on the pitch for Real Madrid, I'm hoping that he doesn't do something stupid enough to hurt himself. The Galaxy, who invested hundreds of millions in him, will probably be turning blue from holding their breath.

Ecuadorian Bad Boy to NY?

It turns out the New York Red Bulls are also pursuing Ecuador's all-time leading scorer, Augustin Delgado. Apparently, Delgado also has a troubled past but does that really matter? After all, how much trouble could one guy get into in New York City? It's also not like the NYC media is that fierce either.

MLS News

Beckham!

I figured that it had been a while since I had wrote the name David Beckham in this blog so I thought he deserved a posting.

With the MLS schedule being announced yesterday, soccer fans in the U.S. finally know when David Beckham will suit up for the L.A. Galaxy. Fans in Toronto should be rejoicing as August 5, 2007 will mark the day that Becks debuts and it will be against their expansion franchise. He may not be the same player as he was back when he played for Manchester, but you can count me in for watching history in the making.

What does the F.C. stand for?

Most soccer fans know that the F.C. in Toronto F.C. means Football Club, but after hearing the team's coach Mo Johnston's comments, it could stand for something closer to Fiercely Crappy. Johnston has been put on record saying that the team looks like it isn't near the calibre of what a professional team should be at. While he spared the youngsters some wrath chalking their play up to inexperience, he didn't like the looks of the veterans at all. This may be a long season for soccer fans in Toronto.

More top players coming to the MLS: (! or ?)

The New York Red Bulls have signed Manchester City cast-off and American national Claudio Reyna. This move should help but it won't make up for the departure of phenom Freddy Adu as well as losing out on David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy. The bigger news is that the Chicago Fire is courting all-world head-butter Zinedine Zidane. Whether they can land him or not is debatable as the French mid-fielder retired from soccer after the World Cup. If they can land Zizou, it would be another huge (past-his-peak) star coming over the league and another huge draw soccer fans in North America.

I Can't Help It That Beckham's Always In The News

What was lost in the hub-bub of the size of David Beckham's contract and the fact that he's coming to play in Los Angeles is that he and the L.A. Galaxy committed collusion. Since when has an athlete been able to sign a contract with a team while still being under contract with another team? I'm surprised this deal is legal. With months still on the Spanish league's schedule and Beckham's contract, there should have been no way that negotiations even took place.

In the least surprising turn of events of this Beckham saga, Real Madrid's manager has decided to bench Becks until his contract with the team ends. Real Madrid had no other choice than to do so. Beckham, if he's smart, wouldn't be playing all out when he's set to start his new contract a few months away. There's no reason for him to risk injury. Breaking his foot, tearing something in his knee or suffering a concussion would seriously affect his arrival and ability to play for his new team.

This news should make the L.A. Galaxy, MLS and North American soccer fans rejoice even more about his arrival. With his benching in Spain, an early arrival to the U.S. may be closer to spring than his previously stated July debut. That is, of course, if Real Madrid will consent to him doing so.

The Math Behind Beckham

While many will be distracted by the thrilling MLS SuperDraft today, the biggest news in the history of the league occurred yesterday when David Beckham signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy. What Beckham will do for the league may not be as much as people want, but having a name like Beckham on the pitch will draw more fans then just the soccer die-hards.

His five-year $250M deal will make him the highest paid player in sports but crunching the numbers is where the deal gets really interesting. With the MLS season being 30 games long of 90 minutes a piece, Beckham will earn $308 every second that he plays (or $18518 every minute). This is, of course, assuming that he plays every second of every game for the next 5 years and also discounting the amount of time he will spend in practice and off-field activities. If he should miss time, that per second goes up rather steeply.
I've got the feeling Becks is going to love L.A.