OK, so the tabloid press say David Beckham broke a rib while playing Sydney FC. They even have a quote from him about it.
Yet he soldiered on playing the next match in Wellington. Now, of course, a broken rib isn't like playing on an injured ankle, but still painful.
Working on an article about the tour, I decided to check with the Galaxy about David's injury.

Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers scored for the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team today in a 3-3 draw with China. See the previous post for more on Rogers.

Today's prep soccer stories from the Daily Breeze are here and here.

Daily News prep action is here.

If you missed the Manchester United-Liverpool or Arsenal-Chelsea game this morning, you can check out the action in the best hour of soccer on TV at 7 tonight on Fox Soccer Channel during the EPL highlights show.

Pretty much the only way to generate soccer news in LA between Christmas and New Year's Day is to make it yourself.

So we did.

David Beckham is our LA Sports Person of the Year. His move to Carson (of all places) had the entire world watching, as Sports Editor Kevin Modesti puts it, "the LA Bloody Galaxy.

The U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team tied China 0-0 today with all but three members of the squad getting some playing time.

Meanwhile, it seems all but certain that the Galaxy's David Beckham will be reunited with his former Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello, who is expected to become the next Engand manager.

Fabio Capello has yet to sign on the dotted line as the new England coach and already there's speculation he has made up with a certain player the then Real Madrid coach once vowed would never play for him again (although he did anyway with Real's season going south last season). Yup, David Beckham, it's said, will captain England on Feb.

No, not today's pointy-ball game.

UCLA and USC will meet in the semifinals of the women's soccer final four for the first time ever Dec. 7 in Texas after the Bruins beat Portland 3-2 at chilly Drake Stadium Friday night in a double overtime thriller and the Trojans improbably won 1-0 on the road in usually virtually impregnable West Virginia.

After months of whispers, it looks like it has happened, DC United signed Juan Sebastian Veron. This deal is worth $3-4 million a year.
As shown in this summer's Copa America, Veron will give United even more power in the midfield, but he does have a tendency to slow teams down. This might not be a major issue, but it is something to watch.

Lots of soccer news today, so let's get to it.

Olympics in Carson CONCACAF announced today that the U.S. will host Cuba, Honduras and Panama in Tampa, Fla., on March 11, 13 and 15 in Olympic qualifying.

Here on the West Coast it's Canada, Guatemala, Haiti and Mexico at Home Depot Center with doubleheaders on March 12, 14 and 16.

David Beckham is seeking to train with EPL team Arsenal in January, according to English media reports in a bid to win his 100th England cap.

No word from the PR staff at the Galaxy, who were out of the office for the holidays Friday.

The Galaxy's David Beckham makes nice with new England manager Fabio Capello, his former coach at Real Madrid, in a BBC radio interview scheduled to air Christmas Day (right after the Queen's annual address just in case you didn't think Becks is treated like royalty in England). Details here.

Another typical day in the Premiership. Chelsea win at home, Derby lose and Manchester United don't play when practically everybody else does. Arsenal come back from a goal down, not so typical, and forge a 2-1 victory away at Villa Park. They showed a lot of resistance against a wave of second half pressure, reminiscent of the days of Adams, Bould, Dixon and Winterburn.

Aussie correspondent for Whenballmeetsfoot Martin Cassidy reports on the marketing phenomon/footballer David Beckham's sojourn down under with his team the LA Galaxy and analyses the massive reaction he has received.
Vincent
The David Beckham circus is in town this week with Sydney's Olympic Stadium acting as the big top.

I've written before that I don't like the idea of Juan Sebastian Veron as a replacement for Christian Gomez. Because Gomez is a proven commodity as the best player on this team. Maybe Veron will be even better, but in my opinion, probably not.
Well all reports are indicating that Veron is close to signing with DC (for something around $15 million?

Bouna Coundoul, the Rapids goalkeeper and all-round great bloke, has been called up to the Senegal national team squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, according to the BBC. Now, he just has to wait anxiously until January 10 when the squad will be further trimmed before the tournament starts January 20.

The Beeb gets down with the Queen and Becks.