quick hit

tomorrow i'll have a full post about this weekend, featuring some pictures. but, in the meantime, i just wanted to briefly reflect on soccer in the u.s. this weekend.

the other day, i mentioned that the mls allstars beat celtic 2-0. well, they also played chicago fire. that game ended up being 1-1. cuauhtemoc blanco, mexican international, scored for chicago and just missed another. this result impresses me because chicago isn't an allstar team, and i wonder if their combined salaries are equal to 1/3 of celtic's.

sadly, the galaxy were unable to come up with a similar result against chelski in beckham's debut. but, they did play well on both ends of the field, especially in the first half. i didn't get to watch the second half, but have it taped for later. i hoped beckham would play a little more, and figured he would be on for about thirty minutes. he only played 17, but it's a start. and, as they drilled it into our skulls during the game, no one wants to aggravate an injury in a friendly match. but, like my chicago assessment, the overall salaries lag far behind chelski's. they are a freaking allstar team. if you take away beckham's endorsements, he's getting signed for less than many of the chelski players. now, you can make an argument that these high played players are @ a different point of their careers, like malouda who recently signed for 35 million.

i may not think everything alexi lalas says is gold, but i think he's right, you could take mls teams and drop them into the premiership. they would finish middle of the pack, and with time and wide open checkbooks they could compete.

footy news

celtic sucks.


okay, i admit, it was an preseason friendly/warm up type match, and it was against the stars of the league. but still, 2-0 on some really nice goals. and, it's not like all star teams have the benefit of practicing together, knowing where people will and should be. and, it's nice to see that this is the second year in a row where the mls all stars have beaten a top notch squad. last year's victim, chelski, will be playing the galaxy on saturday. maybe you've heard, this beckham fellow is supposed to play.

oh, and dana, the earthquakes are coming back.