Galaxy 2 Real Salt Lake 2
David Beckham, remember him? He's that guy Steve McClaren left out of the England team... and ended up not qualifying for Euro 2008.
For the uninitiated, the Euro competition is every 4 years and is basically a mini World Cup. England has long had pretensions/delusions of being one of the elite teams in Europe, and not only their poor World Cup 2006 showing but also their failure to qualify for this tourney has really shown them to be what they are: mediocre. While it may be true that the English Premier League is one of the most exciting leagues, the "English" part should only be an indicator of where the pitches are laid.
A number over 60% represents the non-English players in the league, and if you went back to the "old days" of mostly English/British players, you'd again have some pretty dull football.
All that by way of saying that Beckham has always been one of the most gifted English footballers. His precision of passing, his supernatural vision and ability to pick out runs off the ball and land the ball in someone's hip pocket from 50 yards, is an amazing talent. We all know about Beckham's deadball prowess. This other side of the game is even more crucial.
On Saturday night in Utah, David Beckham brought both halves. He scored a marvellous goal in open play from the right channel, lofting a 35 yard looping ball into the side netting, making the keeper look foolish. Later, a free kick from about 23 yards out was again buried with a fierce shot up and over a useless wall.
It's a shaame the Galaxy drew, because a win would have lifted them into first place.
As for the England critics who have written off Beckham, his display Saturday night showed anyone watching the wrongheadedness of McClaren's reign. When Euro 08 rolls around this summer, thank bonehead McClaren and his exclusion of Beckham.
It's also a good point for RSL, who are having a new 30,000 seater stadium being built especially for them. This new stadium will be bigger than the Galaxy's Home Depot Center by several thousand.
For reference, the Staples Center capacity for a Lakers game is 20,000. Suck on that, Kobe.
