Name Game: Beckham, Kamara, Warner, Suarez & More

Beck’s Backs Out?

After all of one charity game David Beckham has alerted the media he may not be fit enough to play England’s final European Championshp qualifier against Croatia. D’ya think?

But Beck’s should get the boot from the England team anyway, said influential Daily Telegraph columnist Henry Winter. Somewhere I can hear Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas praying for this to come to pass.

Kamara Flies Out

Lawndale’s Kei Kamara is likely on a jet on his way to Liberia as I blog this.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills product just completed his second season with the Columbus Crew and was scheduled to get on a plane Monday night.

From the (edited) Crew press release:

Kamara will participate in Right To Plays 2007 Athlete Forum as an athlete ambassador for the group, which promotes child development and peace through sport.

Right To Play is a great organization and I am extremely excited about the trip, Kamara said. It is especially significant to me that we are going to Liberia, which neighbors my home country and which has had a similar recent history (civil war). I am looking forward to seeing the great work being done by Right To Play and to having the opportunity to work with some of the children they serve.

The purpose of Right To Play Athlete Forums is to show Athlete Ambassadors first-hand the organizations specially-designed sport and play programs geared to improving health, building life skills, and fostering peace for children an communities affected by war, poverty and disease. A native of neighboring Sierra Leone, Kamara will be joined on the trip by a variety of Olympic athletes, including Adam van Koeverden (Canada – Kayak), James McIlroy (UK – Track and Field), Whitney Ping (USA – Table Tennis) and Cheil Warners (Netherlands – Decathlete).

Kamara is one of 20 MLS Right To Play Athlete Ambassadors who help raise awareness and funds to assist children in the worlds most disadvantaged places.

Warner Not Voted Out?

Is CONCACAF serving as President Jack Warner’s personal PR agency? Read this (unedited) press release and you decide:

CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) President and FIFA Vice-President, Jack Austin Warner, was elected to the House of Representatives in his native Trinidad & Tobago following a nationwide general election yesterday.

Mr. Warner, standing for election to the House for the first time, won his constituency seat of Chagunas West with the largest popular vote of any candidate in any of the seats contested.

Overall the United National Congress-Alliance Party, of which Warner is the co-leader, won 15 of the 41 seats in the Trinidad and Tobago House of Representatives and the UNC-A will now form the official Opposition. Mr. Warners term in the House of Representatives will run for five years and during that period, he has declined to accept the post of Leader of the Opposition.

Jack Warner is also President of CONCACAF, a position he has held since he was first elected in 1990. He has also served on FIFAs Executive Committee since 1983, the longest standing member of that body, and has been a FIFA Vice President since 1997.

Additionally, he is Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the FIFA Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Finance Committee and a member of a number of other FIFA Committees.