Beckham vs Donovan : The rich and not so rich feud?

Becks slams critical Landon

DAVID BECKHAM has blasted back at Landon Donovan for criticising his commitment to LA Galaxy.
Donovan recently questioned the England midfielder's level of dedication since joining the Major League Soccer club in July 2007.
But Becks, who is back in America after a loan spell with AC Milan, insists his team-mate's comments are wide of the mark.
He fumed: "In 17 years, I have played with the biggest teams in the world and the biggest players and not once been criticised for my professionalism.
"I'm personally very professional when I am on the field.
"I don't care what people say about me off the field, once I'm on the field I'm professional."
Despite his disappointment with Donovan, Beckham claims it will not affect the pair on the pitch.

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1. I have read with great interest on this issue when the article on Donovan's book made it into the UK newspapers. Simply put it, I wanted to know what have Beckham achieved in the USA. Apparently, he managed not only to get himself rich and making friends with the Hollywood celebs, but also alienated his lesser-paid and lesser-talent teammates. Pity Donovan. hehehe...
   


2. And over the weekend, I watch the silly football movie THE GOAL... that supposedly Latin player hails from LA whose family migrated from Mexico and ended in Newcastle United and in this part 2, he become a Real Madrid player and scored some spectacular goals. Yeah dream on! What I want to point out is that, though Beckham (while he was there) didn't really spoke a proper lines, he was seen many times in the shots. To me it show that Beckham knows how and when to show himself. I do suspect he got massive payment for that few seconds appearance. I don't really care about his football (he was a SCUM, after all) but when he wore England shirt, it would be interesting to root for him (hahaha bias...)
   


3. Now... if we try to understand what is actually transpired between Beckham (the richest and most popular footballer in the world ... sorry Ronaldo... you don't have Tom Cruise as your buddy yet) and Donovan - an American who happens to be a captain of USA football team who surprised every one with the Confederation Cups stunning victory on the Spaniards. Donovan said Beckham has no captaincy quality. When the team is down and losing, Beckham were like every one else... silent, which to Donovan - shouldn't be like that... may be Donovan were hoping Beckham would do Drogba... shout expletive words to the man in black?
   


4. One of the issues Donovan raised was the huge amount of pay that Beckham is taking home while the rest of the team received a modest salary. My question is why is that MLS capped the salaries in the first place? Isn't this the mother of globalisation, open market and market driven country? Why do they need a limitation on how much does a player should take home in their lowly league? Do they expect to attract European talent by doing so? I mean... they do... especially those players that we usually labelled as `has been' or `past tense'. So Donovan.... WHAT EVER!

~ 14 days to Singapore ~

1. It's just 14 days to go before me and Kajang-Today and Gary and perhaps another lucky SOB embarking on our journey down south to JB and then the ultimate destination - Singapore National Stadium. After purchasing the tickets about 2 months back, the anticipation is high and sometimes a bit silly (when I misplaced the envelop and couldn't locate it for days...). Another dimension that add to the excitement is people - friends and strangers (upon noticing my YNWA t-shirt) starts to ask if I will be watching the game. Of course! I said.
   


2. My small posse will be driving down south. Not really sure what car it could be but I'll ensure it is one that is comfy in terms of ride and fuel consumption. Drivers? No worries. All of us are experience drivers.
   


3. Perhaps we'll see the rest of you there? Or are you watching Michael Owen in KL? hahaha...
   
   
   

DON'T HATE MICHAEL OWEN. FOR HE IS SIMPLY DUMB

Photoshop : Paul Jarvis

FACT :

Year : Club :Play :Score

1996–2004 Liverpool 216 (118)

2004–2005 Real Madrid 35 (13)

2005–2009 Newcastle U 71 (26)

GOOD BET:

2009-Dec 2009 Man.U 3 (None & has not been playing due to reoccuring injury)

MICHAEL OWEN : FORMERLY KNOWN AS SAINT, NOW A SCUM!

Owen was called `Saint Michael' as opposed to his nemesis, Robbie `The God' Fowler when he was in Liverpool.

When he was with Real Madrid, his tenure there didn't make any sense! He was not appreciated nor valued by the manager. Thus the pathetic one season in Spain.

At Newcastle, he was always in pain. He hardly play because he injured almost half of the season.

Now that he is (almost at the time of this article) become a player to Manchester United, people will remember him as `Formerly Saint, Now Known As SCUM'...

Manchester United set to sign Owen on a free transfer !

1. This is what the real definition for the wisdom words of `the ball is round'! You're professional and you don't care what the fans are feeling and in Owen case, the Man.U fans are furious! But you can't say the same with Liverpool. I think our attachment to this fella has long gone, though there was an effort from Owen's good buddy ~ Steven Gerrard trying to persuade Rafa to take him this season. I doubt Rafa would be so bold like Sir Alex.
   
   
2. Our detachment towards Owen started on the day he opted for Newcastle and slowly slowly we tend to forget him, both at club level and international (well... he was injured most of the time and he was left out from the England squad). It made matters worst for him when Newcastle failed to retain its premiership status, well... one of the reason is that Owen failed to score the decisive goals, with or without Alan Shearer.
   
   
3. I doubt if Owen will see a lot of games. This is a type of player who can only play half of the 38 compulsory games in the premier league. Perhaps, Sir Alex will use him for the crunch game against Liverpool, since Man.U failed to beat us home & away last season. But Sir Alex must know, Owen might have a history with us, but the love has long lost. There won't be dilemma or heartbreaking. Remember, our love now focused on Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
   
   
4. Good Luck with your crazy gamble, Sir Alex. May be you can go together with Owen to one of the horse racing that both of you love so much...

CARLOS TEVEZ: THE MOST HATED MAN BY THE SCUM NOW!

Don't you get it? I meant good bye when I waves my hands... not surrender the Falkland island!!!!

1. Wow... look what love can do to you! One minute they were pleading Tevez to stay on, then the next - after it is most likely that Tevez has no intention to play another game for the scum... Tevez found himself to be the butt of all the conversation pertaining to the great Manchester United. Ask your Man.U friend now, he'll definitely say something cute about Tevez and I'll bet you RM50 that the conversation would ended up with him cursing Tevez ... for not being loyal, not being thankful and what a sour grape he is now... hmmm...
   
   
2. I don't remember if we did the same when Harry Kewell reacted in a similar character after he was ``forced'' to leave Anfield or even Michael Owen when he ended up in Newcastle. I think we acted a bit more matured than the manured in this area. As far as we're concerned, the individual player has left and he might be pissed-off with the manner that he has to leave and might say something harsh. I think majority of us would understand the situation and just let it be. He made it clear for all of us to know about his grievances, to be heard and ok... that's normal. But we reacted to the utmost gentlemanly behaviour also and didn't retaliate nor condemn the person like what they are doing now onto Tevez.
   
   
3. But no matter what the scum are saying bad about Tevez, that doesn't diminished a bit other clubs interest in gaining his service. This include Liverpool FC but the UK newspapers have been harping on the speculation of him joining Man.City. Which is an obvious destination, simply because that club has more money to acquire and maintain Tevez and could easily guarantee him of playing every minute that he is not injured.
   
   
4. May be with Liverpool, he might just be positioned behind Torres. More as a supplier, like what Gerrard is doing now. I tend to stop myself from taking anything from the UK media until it is confirmed by the respective clubs. Is it a futile effort to cross my fingers, hoping that Tevez could be on his way to Anfield after all? That same goes to David Silva and David Villa...
   

SPAIN HAD A TOUGH TIME WITH SOUTH AFRICA

Katlego Mphela scored a brilliant goal from a brilliantly taken free-kick outside the penalty box to force the game against Spain into extra-time.

1. I didn't watch the final match between Brazil and USA. I opted to recover my energy by switching off the lights and snore to Ecstasy! hahaha... but I did watch Spain vs South Africa (well... in a way, because the only time that I managed to sit proper was the last 10 minutes of the extra time... I was in the office last night). But I saw all 5 goals, including Alonso's winning free kick.
   
   
2. Now as a Kop fans, many of us would ponder and excite ourselves about Alonso's accurate kick. None of us would challenge that as he has prove it at the club level. And last night, that goal won his national squad a paltry 3rd place, under USA then Brazil. hmmm... USA...
   
   
3. One South African player that impressed me was Katlego Mphela. Mphela's introduction changed that. He scored a goal in the 73rd minute, which looked like being enough until Spanish goals in the 88th and 89th minute looked to have stolen the match from the South Africans. Mphela then produced arguably the goal of the tournament with a free kick from 30 yards, which turned out to be the last action of the 90 mins, sending the game into extra time.
   
   
4. So I search the net for Mphela. Who is he? First and foremost, I didn't see any known club affiliated with his name. It's because he is playing in the local league of South Africa with a club named Mamelodi Sundowns. Who knows after this, he might transfer to England with his good performance in the tournament. Even if it's going to be materialise, I doubt it would be Anfield. May be Goodison Park? It suited them small club better.
   
   
5. This is really an impressive fact because Mphela is one of the many homegrown talent in South Africa that have proven that they can really challenge the other top teams, not only in the confederation cup but more importantly, next year's World Cup. I doubt if they would do South Korea or Japan that relies heavily on penalties to advance in the tournament. They played with exciting tactics and had a strong Brazilian samba's influence in the skills and one-touch capabilities. Ask the coach.
   
   
6. I might be impressed but I won't recommend Mphela as yet for Rafa to buy. get Silva or Villa, first!
   

A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JACKSON

1. I've just watched the news about the passing away of Michael Jackson for an hour. I flip-flop between CNN and BBC. It is shocking and like many, I couldn't believe it the first time I read about it.
   
   
2. I always refer myself to be raised in the Michael Jackson's era. His greatest album and one of the greatest in the world - Thriller released in 1982 with songs like Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller really revolutionise the way we look at things and how we perceived the world. Correct me if I'm wrong, Michael won multi platinum Emmy Awards in 1984 which was shown in the Malaysian TV (I remember it because I was with my family expecting my elder sister's first daughter - my first niece in Miri, Sarawak).
   
   
3. During school days, me and my buddy, Harith Harun (where the hell are you now, bro?) would sing `THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL' every time beautiful girls passes our class room (of course not during studying period). You know the words... the way you make me feel, you're really turned me on... And that's the only 2 lines that matters and it would be repeated over and over again until the girl left - with disguse!.
   
   
4. In the 90s, when Michael toured Asia and performed in Bangkok, my brother passed me Michael's shirt which was a present from his gf then. I wore it nonchalantly, until he teased me of wearing an image of a child molester. Well, this is one peculiar segment in Michael's short life. I'm not even want to touch about he's supposedly conversion into Islam. Just let him be.
   
   
5. I will remember Michael as a great artist, great performer who has brought magic into my generation. Rest In Peace, Jacko.

Spain 0 - USA 2

1. How in the world could a great Spanish team lost to a lowly American team? Amazing isn't it?
2. I let you ponder about it. There were at least 5 Liverpool players in the Spanish squad. Funny.

WELCOMING GLEN JOHNSON TO ANFIELD

1. LFC confirmed yesterday evening or at midnight Malaysian time that the club has successfully acquire the service of Glen Johnson. The club didn't mentioned anything on the web site but news reports claimed that it was £18million deal. Based on his performance in the Andorra match (albeit a lowly team like that...), I say Glen would be a good addition to the squad though it is speculated now that Alvaro Arbeloa would be sold to Real Madrid.
   
   
2. Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (born 23 August 1984) has won 15 caps for England. Now that is interesting because LFC has very small representatives in the England squad (Stevie G alone) after Carragher decided not to be bothered any more.
   
   
3. Glen is not that high profile. However, he made news for himself in January 2007, when he received an £80 on-the-spot fine after he was caught with friend and fellow footballer Ben May attempting to steal a toilet seat and other bathroom fittings from a B&Q Warehouse store in Dartford, Kent, allegedly on a dare.
   
   
4. In the same Sky Sports interview, he claimed that he and his friend were not trying to steal the toilet seat, but rather they had been undercharged by a mere four pounds and security deemed this to be theft. Instead of taking the matter to court, he claimed that it would be easier to just accept the small fine rather than fight out the matter.
   
   
5. There is a lingering news about Xabi Alonso who is pursued by the Real Madrid. According to news reports, the crazy galaticos is preparing a £30million offer, up from £20million last week. hmmm.... this is something we really want to avoid. Losing a marvellous player like Alonso is bad business.