Serie A: March 2010 Archives

Galaxy GM and Coach Bruce Arena released this statement Monday morning regarding the career-threatening Achilles tendon injury David Beckham suffered Sunday in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo Verona:

"Injuries are an unfortunate part of our game and they are even more disappointing when they happen to a player who was so close to realizing his dream of representing his nation at this summer's World Cup. We will give David our complete support to make sure that he is able to get himself back to full health before he returns to the field. David remains an important player for the Galaxy and we look forward to welcoming him back to the club and assisting him in his recovery."

Beckham went under the knife today in Finland.

And here's confirmation Beckham will miss the World Cup.

David Beckham is stretchered off in tears Sunday, his World Cup dream over (AP Photo).

Full story here.

Updated Monday

More here.

Also:

* Galaxy 0 Chivas USA 0

Galaxy lineup: Josh Saunders; Todd Dunivant, Leonardo, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Chris Birchall, Eddie Lewis, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein, Mike Magee, Bryan Jordan

Chivas USA lineup - Dan Kennedy, Mariano Trujillo (Gerson Mayén 76), Michael Umaña, Jonathan Bornstein, Ante Jazic (Jesús Padilla 55), Michael Lahoud, Blair Gavin, Marcelo Saragosa, Sacha Kljestan, Maykel Galindo (Justin Braun 54), Osael Romero (Emilio Viades 46)

*Landon Donovan's "life experience."

Is Landon Donovan secretly hoping negotiations between MLS and the players union breaks down this week?

Jack Rodwell was well-served Sunday by Landon Donovan, so he served up LD to the fans after notching Everton's fifth against Hull City (AP Photo).

That's one possible interpretation of Donovan's claim Sunday in the wake of his supposed Goodison Park finale that there's still a "chance" he could remain on Merseyside longer after scoring Everton's fourth and creating their fifth in just about 20 minutes of action in the 5-1 victory Sunday over Hull City.

His second goal for Everton was shrewdly taken, Donovan smacking an adroitly placed and well-controlled shot into the Hull net with a calculated maturity that underlined his all business approach to his English stay. And Donovan's unselfishness in creating the fifth showed just why he is going to be missed by Everton players and fans alike.

If, of course, he returns to the Galaxy as Coach Bruce Arena Friday insisted he would as scheduled.

Donovan's goal and assist may have been unnecessary to the Everton cause Sunday anyway, with the game already well in hand by the time he made his entrance, but it illustrated his level of achievement in Europe this year in comparison with the Galaxy's other on-loan player, one David Beckham.

Beckham made yet another brief appearance for AC Milan Sunday who squandered the opportunity to close the gap atop Serie A on rival AC Milan.

Is it any wonder Donovan is being outrageously linked with the likes of Chelsea while Beckham is yet again deemed extraneous to the England cause at the World Cup this summer.

A Chelsea forward line of Donovan, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka may be the stuff of tabloid newspaper fantasies, but somehow it's not as easy to reject the idea that Donovan's time in MLS is drawing to a close one way or another, despite what Arena would like to believe.

Away from the laptop much of the weekend (happy birthday, mum) so if (like me) the last soccer action you noticed was Manchester City's Wayne Bridge artfully missing shaking the hand of Chelsea's John Terry before the two teams met Saturday, here's what else happened this weekend:

*UCLA's Lauren Cheney scored two goals today as the U.S. beat Sweden 2-0 to reach its eighth consecutive Algarve Cup final. The U.S. plays the winner of the Germany-China encounter in the final.

*David Beckham played 90 minutes Sunday for the first time since AC Milan's UEFA Champions League loss to Manchester United as Milan beat Atalanta 3-1 to stay second in Serie A.

*Flu-stricken Landon Donovan came on as a 63rd minute sub Sunday but couldn't prevent Everton losing 2-1 to Tottenham Hotpsur. He missed a sitter with 13 minutes to go, failing to convert Jack Rodwell's cross from close range that would have been his second goal in 11 appearances for the club.

"This is just a really disappointing moment for me personally," Donovan told the Liverpool Echo. "I've put a lot into my time here and another goal would have been a nice reward.

"I got myself in a good position at the back post and was hoping Jack was going to put the ball across goal," he added. "He did that and it came perfectly for me.

"It's hard to understand what went wrong. I felt like everything was right but then I looked up to see the ball had hit the side netting.

"It's so frustrating because if we had scored then it's possible we might have gone on to win the game.

"It's tough but we've got to put this behind us now and move on. There are still a lot of points to play for."

*Fontana's Maurice Edu became an instant Ibrox hero Sunday when his lone stoppage time goal decided the Old Firm clash as Rangers beat 10-man Celtic, 1-0.

*The Galaxy beat the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Friday evening on a Gregg Berhalter penalty kick in Arizona, but heavy rain canceled a Sunday rematch and the Galaxy headed home today.

Lineup: Josh Saunders (Kevin Guppy 45'); Alex Cazumba, Gregg Berhalter, Yohance Marshall, Sean Franklin; Chris Birchall, Bryan Jordan, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein; Jovan Kirovski, Edson Buddle (Mike Magee 31')

*Lastly, Chivas USA introduces El Salvadoran midfielder Osael Romero today. More on that in Tuesday's column.