content='' name='keywords'/> Goal Soccer blog.: 2009
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Friday, July 24, 2009

Number 2 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


The Number 2 pick is................ The Nike Mercurial Vapor III aka R9

Worn by: Ronaldo(not Cristiano people) because of the Brazilian colors
Cost:$199.99 USD

I actually had a pair of these exact cleats and everybody kept complementing me and asking me how much I paid for it. Bottom line, if you're a player who loves to be recognized, this is the cleat for you!

Number 3 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


Nike Total 90 Laser falls at number 3 on this list.

Worn by: Fernando Torres, Wayne Rooney
Cost: $99.99 USD

This cleat is light, stylish, responsive, accurate and quick. I really recommend it for those on a low budget.

Number 4 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


The Adidas F50.7 is a very beautiful cleat. Its design is very streamlined and it looks very trendy and classy but it will leave a dent in your wallet unless the recession isnt affecting you.

Worn By: Djibril Cisse
Cost:$99.99 USD
I personally love Nike but if there was no such thing as Nike, this would be my favorite cleat.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Number 5 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


Adidas Predator PowerSwerve is the lucky number 5.
Worn by: Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Anderson, Michael Ballack and Dirk Kuyt
Cost: $149.99 USD
Just an all around great shoe and it provides 3% more power on your Kick. Wow!

Number 6 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


Adidas Copa mundial is my 6th favorite soccer shoe.
Worn by: KAKA
Cost: $100 USD
Classic copa mundial made for the 1982 world cup.

Number 7 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


The legendary Puma King makes my list at number 7.
Worn by: Pele, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff
Cost: $99.99 USD
What makes this shoe so special is the fact that it was Worn by Pele, Cryuff and Maradona. This is the shoe that was shoe worn by the worlds greatest players

Number 8 on my list of the Top ten soccer cleats.


Nike Air Legend is my number 8 pick on this list.
Worn by: Cesc Febregas, Ruud van Nistelrooy
Cost: $59.99 USD
The Nike Air Legend II is a supremely comfortable football boot combining retro style with cutting edge technology.

Number 9 on my list of Top ten Soccer cleats.


Puma v1.06 falls number 9 on my list.
Worn by: Samuel Eto'o
Cost: $99.99 USD
This is a really trendy boot and i like it but there are many more that I would prefer, rather than this boot. Very simple and classy boot. After all one of Spain's leading scorers wears it, maybe his talent will rub off.

Number 10 on my list of Top ten Soccer cleats.


Adidas Predator Absolute is number 10 on my list.
Worn by: Michael Ballack, Steven Gerrard
Cost: $49.99 USD
Just an all around good shoe but appearance is a big thing for me so thats why this shoe is number 10.

Israel arrests soccer player of Palestinian national team .

Israel arrested a Palestinian soccer player en route from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the West Bank, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said Thursday.

"This is an Israeli piracy targeting sport in Palestine," the PFA said in a statement, adding that "We call on the FIFA to press the Israeli authorities to release al-Sarsak immediately."

Mahmoud al-Sarsak, 22, a Gaza-based player and a member of the national team, was detained late Wednesday at Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel, a source in the PFA told Xinhua.

Two of his colleagues have been turned back to Gaza, said the source on condition of anonymity.

The three were on their way to the West Bank to play for Balataclub in Nablus town. The PFA said it had contacted with Israel in advance to allow the players to cross.

The PFA said Israeli intelligence officers interrogated al-Sarsak and other players for eight hours at the crossing and then detained al-Sarsak.

Meanwhile, relatives of al-Sarsak confirmed the arrest, saying they have received a phone call from the Israeli army Thursday telling them that al-Sarsak was under detention in a prison at Ashkelon town.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

First American soccer player signs with AC Milan.


Oguchi Onyewu, the first U.S.-born player to sign with the prestigious AC Milan, finally made it to practice. He'll get chance to prove he belongs at soccer's highest level today when AC Milan plays Mexico's Club America in an exhibition. "In sports, there's no guarantees," Onyewu said. "I'm certainly under the impression that I'll have to play for my spot." AC Milan organizing director Umberto Gandini hopes Onyewu will be the central piece in a slight rebuilding job. ... Thabiso Khumalo scored in the 82nd minute to send defending champion D.C. United to the U.S. Open Cup final by beating the Rochester Rhinos 2-1.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Soccer's popularity growing in U.S.


Will soccer ever become one of the most popular sports in America? Will it ever rival football, baseball or basketball for the sports fans' love, interest and participation?

Those are the questions brought up by Americans who are not big soccer fans.

I would like to look back at the past weekend and one of the biggest days in soccer's short history in the United States.

People always question the fan support of soccer being played on American soil, and this past weekend saw some of the top club teams in the world and both U.S. national teams playing.

ESPN gave the 2009 upset of the year ESPY award to the U.S. men's national team for its 2-0 victory over Spain, the top-ranked team in the world. To back that up, the national team is attempting to win its third straight Gold Cup. The Americans beat Panama in the quarterfinals on Saturday 2-1 in front of a crowd of 31,087.

Two other Gold Cup quarterfinals were played in Texas in front of a crowd of 82,252, for a combined 113,339 attendance at the Gold Cup quarterfinals.

On the women's side, Abby Wambach became the fifth American female ever to score 100 goals on Sunday against Canada with a crowd of 8,433 watching.

Add in the 76,567 that were in the stands to watch the five Major League Soccer matches over the weekend, and we are already looking at close to 200,000 attending a high-profile soccer match this past weekend.

MLS, however, is not going to convert the fans alone, so U.S. soccer has started bringing in top clubs around the world for friendly matches.

Some of the greatest club teams converged on the U.S. for the World Football Classic, a preseason tournament.

England's Chelsea, Italy's AC Milan and Inter Milan and Mexico's Club America will play a round-robin tournament over the next week in venues across the country. The tournament began Sunday with Club America upsetting 17-time Serie A champion Inter Milan in penalty kicks with a crowd of over 30,000 looking on.

MLS is also getting in the mix playing friendly matches with the top clubs.

Gold Cup Soccer 2009 Final Match!




The 2009 Gold Cup Final Match will be held this coming Sunday at the Giants Stadium!

The Gold Cup matches have been played in a record 13 different cities opening in Los Angeles on July 3 and concluding this Sunday.

This will be the second time Giants Stadium has hosted the final, with the first being in 2005 when USA beat Panama in penalty kicks to take home their third title.

Unwelcome mat is out for Beckham!


David Beckham has been hanged in effigy outside a London pub, has had his photograph printed with a bull’s-eye around it in a British tabloid, and has endured visits to stadiums that roared with derogatory chants about his wife.

None of it seemed to fluster him.

At least not the way a 28-year-old video-game technician did Sunday night when he questioned Beckham’s loyalties during an exhibition between the Los Angeles Galaxy and A.C. Milan, his current and former — or is it future? — clubs.

On his way off the field at halftime, Beckham charged toward a small pocket of Galaxy fans who, feeling jilted over his desire to move to Milan, had taunted him with chants and signs, and booed his every touch of the ball. Beckham pointed a finger, shouted several epithets and attempted to climb over a signboard while challenging a Galaxy fan, David Martinous, to come down on the field.

Martinous did not, but a man sitting next to him, Josh Paige, did. When Paige jumped down about 8 feet, he was immediately pinned to the ground by three security guards and escorted from the stadium. Several more security guards, A.C. Milan defender Alessandro Nesta and Galaxy midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi pulled Beckham away as a fan threw a white No. 23 Galaxy jersey — which once retailed for as much as $99 — at him.

That such a scene played out not in Rome or London or Barcelona, caldrons of European soccer, but outside Los Angeles — where the atmosphere more often resembles an echo chamber — left some participants in disbelief.

“I’m flabbergasted,” Martinous said later at a bar. “I’ve spent three years trying to get under the skin of players who are nobodies, and I got under David Beckham’s skin? Never in my wildest dreams did I think he’d lose his head like that.”

Paige, an independent film producer, was issued a $55 ticket for trespassing and released by the police.

“It was surreal,” he said. “When David Beckham calls you out, you get on the field. In hindsight, I wish I didn’t stoop to his level. I wish I was the bigger man.”

These days, the stature of Beckham is rapidly shrinking. His highly publicized arrival in 2007 was heralded as a boost that would carry Major League Soccer into the mainstream. But through decisions by the league, the Galaxy and Beckham’s advisers, some of which were chronicled in a recently published book, “The Beckham Experiment,” by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, the train seems to have come off the tracks.

Sunday night’s game, which ended in a 2-2 tie, was typical. It was brokered when the Galaxy agreed to extend Beckham’s loan to A.C. Milan last off-season to six months, from three. As Galaxy fans watched Beckham hug and laugh with the Milan players, his body language seemed to make it clear where he would rather be.

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Clarence Seedorf, an A.C. Milan midfielder, said of Beckham’s reception. “It’s like a love-hate situation.”

Indeed, several Galaxy fans said they were conflicted when Beckham’s deliveries were parlayed into both goals for the Galaxy in a 2-2 tie.

“It kind of hurts,” Alex Kozela said. “I don’t know whether to cheer or boo.”

Kozela, like Paige and Martinous, is a regular in a Galaxy fan club called the L.A. Riot Squad, which has developed a reputation for witty if sometimes lewd chants. The comedian Drew Carey, before he became a part-owner of the Seattle Sounders, would visit with them, and Galaxy players have always shown strong appreciation for their passion.

When the former player Alexi Lalas, who later became the Galaxy’s general manager, was awarded the Riot Squad’s player of the year trophy — an inscribed beer keg — he would show it off to visitors at his home. Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena and the team’s captain, Landon Donovan, saluted the group before Sunday’s game, and other players paid visits afterward.

It might have been that way for Beckham, too. But when his effort flagged noticeably in the latter half of last year’s M.L.S. season, and he then sought to make his loan to A.C. Milan permanent, many Galaxy fans tuned out or were turned off. Attendance has dropped more than 25 percent this season, and some of those who remained wanted to let Beckham know just how they felt.

The publication of “The Beckham Experiment,” in which several teammates — notably Donovan — criticized Beckham’s commitment, cemented their resolve.

Beckham was expecting some boos, but not many. And a majority of the crowd sounded glad to see him. Many fans rose to their feet as he prepared for free kicks, which were accompanied by camera flashes throughout the stadium. But the minority was visible and vocal.

When Beckham took the field for warm-ups, he was greeted by a bed sheet that read “Go Home Fraud” with his number, 23, circled and slashed. “Here Before, Here After, Here Despite 23” read another. Galaxy officials asked the fans to remove the signs early in the game.

But there was no silencing the messages. Boos followed Beckham whenever the ball came to him, and on several occasions he was addressed with R-rated chants.

Beckham gave little hint that he had seen or heard any of the jeers until near the end of the half, when he playfully rolled the ball to A.C. Milan’s Ronaldinho, sharing a laugh with him.

Martinous said he yelled to Beckham, about 30 yards away, “Which team are you playing for?” adding several expletives. Shortly after that, Beckham gave a sarcastic thumbs-up. Then came the halftime whistle.

“I just tried to go over and shake one of their hands and tell them to calm down,” Beckham said.

When a reporter told Beckham he was sitting with the fans and that it had not sounded as if Beckham was so conciliatory, Beckham said, “Then you don’t need to ask me that question.”

In the second half, when a Beckham corner kick was headed into the net by Bryan Jordan for the tying goal, he did not turn the other cheek. Instead, he turned to face the Riot Squad. He placed a finger to his mouth, instructing them to be shush. He then blew them a kiss — perhaps, goodbye.

Monday, July 20, 2009

LA Galaxy Fans Get it!!


The latest turn in the David Beckham saga has left me with a new respect for Los Angeles soccer fans.

Upon his return to the Home Depot Center last night, Beckham was booed loudly--and met with several signs calling him a "fraud." A lot of members of the media will call the fans' behavior disrespectful and uncalled for. I'm just not one of them.

Beckham started to lose me two years ago, when he stiffed the media after a large group of us showed up to cover a game he played in after traveling all night. Here's part of what I wrote then, and it's even more true today:

Most of the fans and all of the media who show up at Home Depot Center are there to see Beckham. His bosses at AEG are paying him millions (some say hundreds of millions) to be not only the face of the Galaxy, but the face of the whole sport. He seemed to understand that at his hugely successful introductory press conference, when he said he was here to take the sport of soccer to "a new level."

But after the game....a game that he had traveled eight time zones in one day to play, making him THE story, Beckham went out the back door. He pulled a no comment on a night that he was the only guy any one was interested in hearing from. This is on the heels of his "false start." He caused a huge splash when he announced he was coming, sold a bunch of tickets, and then sat out with an ankle injury for a month. He's selling soccer on borrowed time.

I've been a sportscaster for 22 years, and there's one thing I can always spot: when a guy gets it. Beckham doesn't get it.

Beckham is a huge star overseas and doesn't have to sell the sport--they're already sold. Any really good player knows this about Europe...it's where you go to make millions and become a rock star. Being sent to America for these guys is like being sent to the minors--they not only don't want to be here, they consider it a demotion.

AEG rolled the dice and thought, "we can change that perception. If we pay this guy even more millions, he'll become Wayne Gretzky....the pied piper of our sport."

But Gretzky was smart enough to know that he was the story, not the hockey game. He never missed a chance to sell it. Same thing with Magic Johnson in basketball and Tommy Lasorda in baseball. These guys knew that part of their job was get people talking--about the game, about why it might be important to fly across the world to play twice in two days, about why their teams needed them. Most of all, they were all smart enough to know that if they didn't talk, people wouldn't care at all about the subject. They knew that television stations would stop caring and send their crews home. They knew that newspapers would move the story from page one to page nine.

David Beckham hasn't figured this out yet. And the more I think about his background, the fact that he doesn't need any more money and he doesn't want the attention, the only reasonable conclusion is that AEG might have picked the wrong guy.

What stinks about that is that Beckham was brilliant at that introductory press conference. He gave his bosses every indication that he was worth the extra money, and that he would be the face of the sport. He's perfect for that on paper, because unlike Gretzky, Magic and Lasorda...he has cross-over appeal. When he talks, gossip magazines and sports networks show up. So does Entertainment Tonight. It's a dream scenario that AEG is paying to help develop.

When he was introduced, he said he was coming to help grow soccer here. He stayed at the Home Depot Center and talked to any one would listen that he would try to take soccer to the "next level."

Last night, he did. He helped take it down a notch.

If he wants to to be paid just to play soccer, go back to Europe. If he wants to be the face of the sport, he can't go out the back door. Gretzky, Magic, Lasorda and countless other Hall of Famers never even knew a back door existed.

After I wrote that, I was secretly hoping that Beckham would change his tune. He does have a charisma about him that makes you want to watch him play. But he never changed his tune.

Grant Wahl (a very respected writer for Sports Illustrated) has a new book out, The Beckham Experiment. In that book, he outlines the real truth about what happened with the Galaxy, and why Beckham hasn't lived up to his end of the deal. Landon Donovan, the Galaxy's best player, is very outspoken and should be commended for his candor.

Beckham actually made things worse when he tried to get out of his Galaxy deal and stay in Milan. To fans in LA, that was an obvious snub that I'm sure Beckham thought wouldn't have any impact. But last night, the soccer fans joined together and told Beckham that he has a tired act.

For that, the fans should be proud of themselves--no matter what the media says.

The next move here belongs to Beckham. He can do what he did last night and say things like "you can't make everybody happy." Or he can actually try to make somebody--anybody--happy. He's still a big enough star that if he reached out to the city, we would all cover it from top to bottom. My guess is that every show in town--including mine--will ask Beckham to come on this week to give the fans his side of the story.

Anybody want to bet me that he doesn't come on, with anybody?

Right now, "The Beckham Experiment" is officially a disaster. Only he can can change the way it ends.

Cowboys Stadium scores, fans say, as record Texas soccer crowd sees DH!


ARLINGTON – The view from Seat 1, Row 26 in Section 437, high above the field, was just fine, Susan Garcia reported midway through the historic first sporting event at Cowboys Stadium.

Certainly, no one was sitting farther from the action than Garcia and her last-row, upper-deck compadres who ringed the stadium Sunday.

"I can see just fine," said Garcia, a homemaker from Midlothian. "But all the climbing to get here ..."

Garcia and her construction worker husband, Teddy, paid $25 each for their tickets that allowed them to attend a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal soccer doubleheader that featured Costa Rica's 5-1 pummeling of Guadeloupe and Mexico's 4-0 walkover over Haiti.

If the games weren't competitive, few seemed to mind.

Like most in the sellout crowd of 82,252, a Texas soccer attendance record, the Garcias were there to support Mexico. Costa Rica-Guadeloupe was only the warm-up act for the team that, for the moment, ranks as the most popular to ever play at Cowboys Stadium.

Whether Cowboys fans can exhibit as much passion for their team as the horn-tooting, green-clad Mexico fans remains to be seen.

For the record, the old Texas soccer attendance record was 70,550 for a 2006 doubleheader at Houston's Reliant Stadium that featured Mexico City's Club America. Coincidentally, Club America will be at Cowboys Stadium in six days to play Chelsea of the English Premier League in a World Football Challenge match.

The last time the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football visited North Texas was 1993. Three July dates at the Cotton Bowl drew a combined attendance of 43,940. But the big draw then was only the U.S. team.

While Susan Garcia chose to watch the players scampering up and down the field, Teddy Garcia spent most of his day watching the action on the can't-miss, state-of-the-art giant midfield video screen that measures 53 yards wide and 24 yards high. Sunday's picture in the climate-controlled, enclosed stadium was as crisp and clear as in any home media room.

Teddy shook his head in disagreement when asked if he might have been better off watching the game in the comfort of home.

"Mexico is my team," he said.

"And the air conditioning here is working just fine," Susan said. "We wouldn't have come if the stadium wasn't air-conditioned."

The air conditioning also was working fine in the luxury suite where Jake Spray and his family watched the game. Spray, 9, is a veteran of Cowboys games at Texas Stadium.

"This was awesome," said Spray, who lives in Rockwall. "I'd have to say this place is a little bit better. The air conditioning made it that way."

Gary Watson, a member of the event staff stationed on the wide concourse behind one of the goals, reported no problems with crowd control and no unusual requests.

"People just wanted to know how to find their seats," he said.

And if the gigantic TV screen, cool air and orderly crowd flow inside weren't enough, traffic flowed smoothly – or as smoothly as can be expected for such a sizable crowd at an event just down the road from the Rangers ballpark, where 27,204 fans watched a game that started at 7 p.m.

Arlington police reported only sporadic problems, including a jammed Collins Street just to the west of the stadium. The Rangers game against the Minnesota Twins was in the third inning when the soccer game ended.

If the players and coaches were in awe of playing in the historic first sporting event at the $1.15 billion stadium, they managed to conceal it.

"We usually play in smaller stadiums in front of smaller crowds," Guadeloupe coach Roger Salnot said. "But the size of the stadium didn't affect the way we played. We just gave up too many early goals."

Costa Rica's Celso Borges, who put the stadium's first score on the scoreboard, said he was just happy to be on the winning team.

"As long as the stats say we won, that's all that matters," he said.

And the stadium?

"I didn't think twice about it."

Tom Cruise Cheers On David Beckham!


Tom Cruise gets excited while cheering on soccer pal David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy during the Major League Soccer game against AC Milan at The Home Depot Center on Sunday (July 19) in Carson, Calif.

The 47-year-old actor was accompanied in the VIP box by his kids Isabella, 16, and Connor, 14. Also in the stands was Beckham’s wife Victoria and their three sons — Brooklyn, 10, Romeo, 6, and Cruz, 4.

During yesterday’s game, Galaxy fans heckled and booed at Beckham, holding up signs like “Go Home Fraud 23.” In the end, the game ended in a tie, 2-2.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Man United cancel Jakarta game after bombings!!

Manchester United have cancelled the Jakarta leg of their Asia tour after the hotel where they were due to stay in the Indonesian capital was bombed on Friday.

The English champions were scheduled to play against an Indonesia ‘All Star’ team on Monday on the second leg of their pre-season tour, which also included stops in Malaysia, South Korea and China.

The team cancelled the Indonesia leg, however, after bomb blasts ripped through the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta’s business district, killing nine people and wounding dozens.

“It’s a bit of a shock for all of us. We just got news of this when we landed,” club manager Alex Ferguson told a news conference at the team’s hotel shortly after their arrival in Kuala Lumpur.

“There was no other solution as we had to safeguard our players. So it’s the correct decision.”

Witnesses said the bombings at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton, where the team were due to stay, were minutes apart and it appeared both had occurred inside the hotels, judging from the way windows were blown out.

‘TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED’

Ferguson added that the timing of the bombings was just an unfortunate coincidence and something he had never experienced in over two decades of visiting the region with the club.

“We are terribly disappointed because of all the work that goes into bringing Manchester United to Asia,” added the Scot, who struggled to be heard at times due to the roars from an adjacent room hosting a meet-and-greet session with the players.

“We have a huge fan base in the region and I have been travelling to Asia for 21 years with this club and always admired the support we have in the Far East.

“For the first time, we have had to cancel a match and that’s very frustrating but maybe we can play the game another time.”

Club captain Gary Neville said the team had been looking forward to playing in Jakarta but that there was nothing he could do about the decision to cancel.

“Obviously the players are disappointed not to be going to Indonesia,” said Neville. “However, the decision is out of my control as I’m just here to play football.”

United will kick off their tour in Kuala Lumpur against a Malaysia XI on Saturday and are scheduled to face South Korea’s FC Seoul on July 24 before taking on Chinese outfit Hangzhou Greentown two days later.

All 73,000 tickets for United’s game in Indonesia sold out three weeks in advance, according to the club website (www.manutd.com), and it would have been the first time they had visited the Southeast Asian country since 1975.

SAFETY OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE

The club’s chief executive officer, David Gill, did not rule out the possibility of a rescheduled match with an Indonesian side but explained that a number of factors needed to be resolved before any decision could be made.

“We could bring the Indonesian team here (in Kuala Lumpur). We’ll go through all the different possibilities and evaluate which is the most appropriate,” Gill said.

“There are lots of things to be done before we sort out the logistics for the rest of the week but we will announce it as soon as we can.

“We have to consider the safety of the players and the staff and everyone else in the team because they are of paramount importance.”

Fellow Premier League clubs Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that they would continue as planned with their pre-season trips to the region.

“We have liaised with the British authorities in Thailand and Singapore and they have advised us that the security situation there is unchanged so we are going ahead as planned,” a Liverpool media officer told Reuters.

“But obviously we will continue to monitor the situation.”

Liverpool play Thailand in Bangkok on July 22 before taking on Singapore four days later, while Tottenham are involved in a four-team tournament in Beijing along with Hull City and West Ham United.

Even a Superstar Can’t Be Everywhere


David Beckham made his 2009 Major League Soccer debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday at Giants Stadium. Two years ago, he made his wildly celebrated debut in the league, but this time there was no carnival atmosphere, no breathless promotion, none of the hysteria of 2007, when Beckham was portrayed as M.L.S.’s savior.

The fervor has subsided, and this much has become clear: Beckham is not soccer’s savior, but rather a Moses figure who may not be playing when soccer reaches its ultimate destination. But he says he is fully committed to the journey.

During a news conference before the Galaxy’s game Thursday against the Red Bulls, Beckham was asked — at times pointedly — about his goals and his commitment to the Galaxy and the league after spending the last six months on loan playing for A.C. Milan. The first question was whether he felt he owed Galaxy ticket holders an apology for missing so many games. He did not think so. “I’m dedicated to the fans,” he said.

Beckham’s words were more important than anything he did in the Galaxy’s 3-1 victory over the woeful Red Bulls, for there was none of the fawning of 2007 but instead tough questions about his commitment to helping soccer in the United States, playing in the World Cup and fulfilling his contractual obligations to the Galaxy and to M.L.S.

In responding to questions about these seemingly conflicting goals, Beckham outlined an ambitious agenda: He wants to represent England in the 2010 World Cup and plans to fulfill his obligations to the Galaxy and carry out his role with M.L.S. as an ambassador. And, he said, he wants to fulfill the larger mission of popularizing soccer in this country.

“I want to be involved in the World Cup, I’ve not hidden that fact,” he said. “Whenever I’m called up for a squad with my country, I will turn up. It doesn’t matter. I’ve always done the same throughout my whole career.”

Beckham said that managers in England had made it clear that the only way for him to make the 2010 English national team was to go on loan again for at least six months and to play at a European level.

On the other hand, Beckham said he intended to fulfill his obligations to the Galaxy and M.L.S. — “being part of this team and being successful with this team.”

“I’m committed to this; I’m committed to Bruce,” he said, referring to the Galaxy and its coach and general manager, Bruce Arena. “I’m committed to the players. I’m committed to the M.L.S. as an ambassador. “

He’s also committed to carrying the banner for soccer in the United States. “We want to carry on growing this game,” he said. “It’s the reason that I wanted to be involved in this. For me it’s about creative visualization, and I visualize that this game will take off and get bigger in years to come. And I want to be part of that.”

That’s noble and ambitious, but it also represents a lot on his plate. Someone asked Beckham, who has missed half of the Galaxy’s M.L.S. games the previous two seasons and the first 17 this year, if he might be spreading himself too thin — with commitments to different teams and public-relations appearances. Had he lost sight of the source of his blessings, soccer?

“My career and my whole life has been about soccer,” he said. “Nothing else. Yeah, I have the advertising and the appearances, but not once in my whole 17-year career have I let anything get in the way. So not once have I stepped out of that zone of my first job as a soccer player. Nothing else.”

Grant Wahl, a writer for Sports Illustrated whose book “The Beckham Experiment” was published this week, asked Beckham how he justified being committed to the Galaxy and to M.L.S. when he is a part-time player this year and whether he will be a part-time player next year as well.

“Let me just clear this up first,” Beckham said tersely. “Is this question for the second unofficial book or your magazine?”

Beckham needs reinforcements. Clearly, the infatuation that was so apparent the last two years has faded. What he did previously was wildly cheered, but Thursday night every move he made was booed.

“It’s to be expected,” he said. “It’s sometimes nice to get the boos, it gives you some inspiration.”

There is speculation that Thierry Henry could be headed to M.L.S. after the 2010 season, although Beckham has pointed out in the last two years that soccer’s battle for the American consumer’s heart is a multilayered long haul and not really about bringing in big names and megastars. Progress is like the game itself: built on endurance and subtleties.

“Like I said the first day I arrived, this is not going to happen over one or two years,” Beckham said. “It’s going to happen over 5, 10 years, and if I’m not playing by the time it takes off and really takes off like we hope it will, and like we know it will, then I’ll still be part of it, because I’m committed to it and I’m committed to the cause.”

Beckham is the prophet, not the savior.

Is Juan Toja about to play his final match as a MLS player?

Rumor has it that the longhair midfielder will fly to Romania tonight, after the All-Star match, to finish a deal with Romanian powerhouse Steaua Bucharest.

Then again, it is just a rumor. Accord to FCD coach Schellas Hyndman, "I expect him here to play against LA (on Sunday)."

Although this season has not been as strong as the first half of last year, Toja is still a vital part of Dallas's attack. If he does decide to move on to Europe, FCD will have a difficult time replacing him.

Then there is the ongoing speculation that teammate Kenny Cooper might also be soon to fly across the Atlantic. Those rumors have died down of late, but if both of these ended up being true, it is hard to see a way for Dallas to finish the season in a commanding fashion.

Is the face of FC Dallas about to change in a major way? We'll know within a week.