The Lead

It had a ring of familiarity to it. Four years ago in June 2007, David Beckham received an injury and was subbed off in the midst of Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Mallorca which gave them the league championship over Barcelona. His final match with the club before flying off to Hollywood came on the same night Madrid secured the only La Liga title of Beckham’s Spanish tenure, and he was able to leave in good conscience after his four years there (even with the the uncomfortable fact his sub Jose Antonio Reyes scored the two goals to give Madrid the necessary win).

Last night, David Beckham, fighting off a “hamstring tear”, finished his five-year contract with the LA Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0 to win their one and only Major League Soccer Cup while he was with the club. While he was coy about his future after the win, the consensus seems to be he will suit up for Paris Saint-Germain this January, and that means last night was his last league match for the Galaxy.

When he does leave, there will be words written about the meaning of his impact on American soccer, blah blah blah. And already this morning we’ve got several articles speculating on whether the Designated Player experiment has finally “paid off”—the Galaxy have three in Beckham, Robbie Keane, and Landon Donovan, who scored the winning goal and had a much more substantial impact on the win and arguably, the team as a whole.

Yet despite LA’s considerable skill in navigating the MLS post-season, parity still rules the day in this league. Even if MLS managers decided to drink the DP kool aid en masse, the rules wouldn’t allow the sort of transfer spree bonanza that might substantially change the MLS dynamic. Beckham’s impact on American soccer from a marketing perspective would take up an entire post and then some, but his impact as a whole on the league from a competitive standpoint was fairly milquetoast. Good on him for the Cup win, but he was not the Galaxy’s lodestone, nor Major League Soccer’s.

MLS

Alright, season’s over! Commence bitching about next season’s scheduling format. 

England

With Chelsea twelve points adrift from top spot,  Andre Villas-Boas is in a heap of trouble, despite being awesome at pressers. Smiling pictures of Guus Hiddink abound.

Manager Arsene Wenger has slyly turned the tables on the press, denying rumours he will be leaving Arsenal this summer.

Wayne Rooney missed out on training this morning with Manchester United.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini insists there won’t be any “jerk” discount on Carlos Tevez. He’s also bullish about the club’s place in the European pecking order.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is not too bummed out by Fabio Capello’s criticism of Andy Carroll.

Serie A

Alessandro Del Piero is not too happy about languishing on the bench for Juventus. MLS meanwhile rushes over to see if it can get him anything, water, M & Ms, whatever.

This headline can’t be anymore insulting to Roma fans.

Napoli not doing so well ahead of their crucial Champions League week, writes Paolo Bandini.

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich could learn a lot from Dortmund, snap!

Although Rafa Honigstein writes that Bayern aren’t losing their heads after losing 0-1 to BvB.

Bits and bobs

In the “yeah right” department, Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he’s got nothing personal against Barcelona.

The gorgeous goal that never was.

FIFA’s corporate sponsors see, hear no evil.

Emmanuel Eboue suffers vicious, racist abuse in Turkey playing for Galatasaray.

And, say it ain’t so, Johann.

And, give or take, that’s the story so far…