Always the composed, corporate-friendly gentleman away from the game, David Beckham is a fierce competitor on the pitch who has never shied away from telling a referee exactly what he's thinking. This has gotten him in trouble from time to time and as he revealed on Saturday's episode of "The Jonathan Ross show"; it's even gotten him kicked out of a Los Angeles area children's match just for trying to defend a 7-year-old kid.

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we cover the wacky and gossipy side of football! In today's edition, read about Lukas Podolski's second car accident, David Beckham's new editorial, Luca Toni's fatherly pride and Sara Carbonero!

We kick things off with David Beckham's new editorial spread in Men's Health magazine!

Luis Suarez might as well be on the FA's speed dial these days.

In the aftermath of receiving an eight-game ban and hefty fine from England's ruling body, the Liverpool striker was given his second punishment after being found guilty of misconduct for flipping the middle finger to Fulham fans at Craven Cottage following a match earlier in December.

Andy Dunn's Big Match Verdict: Controversial Suarez so key for King Kenny

Luis Suarez goes to ground too easily for the comfort of the purist. Fact. Luis Suarez raised his middle finger towards Fulham supporters. Fact. Luis Suarez is still being investigated over ­allegations of racist ­comments during a match against Manchester ­United.

Luis Suarez has found an unlikely friend in the guise of QPR manager Neil Warnock, who insists the FA is setting a double standard by punishing the player and not the perpetrators following Suarez's alleged middle-finger salute.
Suarez was charged with improper conduct by the FA after pictures in British newspapers appeared to show the Uruguayan aiming a gesture at Fulham fans.

Luis Suarez charged by FA over gesture to Fulham fans

Luis Suarez has been hit by another FA charge after his obscene gesture to Fulham fans. The Liverpool striker stuck his middle finger up to the supporters during the 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage on Monday night.

The FA is looking into an offensive gesture allegedly made by Liverpool striker Luis Suarez after Monday's 1-0 defeat by Fulham in the Premier League.
The Uruguay forward was caught by photographers appearing to raise his middle finger towards the Craven Cottage crowd as he left the pitch.
Manager Kenny Dalglish refused to condemn the forward, telling reporters: "I've not seen the picture and I am not taking anybody's word for it.

FA investigating offensive gesture from Liverpool striker Luis Suarez after Fulham defeat

The Uruguay forward was photographed appearing to raise his middle finger towards the home fans after Monday's 1-0 loss, adding to the on-going probe over alleged racial abuse

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-06 14:04:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

FA looking in to offensive gesture from Liverpool striker Luis Suarez after Fulham defeat

The Uruguay forward was photographed appearing to raise his middle finger towards the home fans after Monday's 1-0 loss, adding to the on-going probe over alleged racial abuse

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-06 14:04:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Chris Wright

In this morning's 'storm in a teacup' news, Luis Suarez is supposedly in trouble with the FA after it was flagged up that the Uruguayan made an 'inappropriate gesture' towards the Fulham fans after Liverpool's defeat at the Cottage last night...

Suarez took a merciless hounding from the home fans ('cheat, cheat, cheat', etc) after trying and failing to wean a penalty out of referee Kevin Friend in the second half and was more than happy to offer the Fulham fans his feedback on their constructive criticism as he left the pitch at the final whistle.

By Chris Wright

In this morning's 'storm in a teacup' news, Luis Suarez is supposedly in trouble with the FA after it was flagged up that the Uruguayan made an 'inappropriate gesture' towards the Fulham fans after Liverpool's defeat at the Cottage last night...

Suarez took a merciless hounding from the home fans ('cheat, cheat, cheat', etc) after trying and failing to wean a penalty out of referee Kevin Friend in the second half and was more than happy to offer the Fulham fans his feedback on their constructive criticism as he left the pitch at the final whistle.

Luis Swear-ez Liverpool star Luis Suarez is likely to find himself in more trouble after being photographed apparently making a one-fingered gesture in the direction of Fulham supporters after last night's match at Craven Cottage. The Uruguayan is already in hot water with the FA after being charged for making racist remarks towards Manchester United [.

Just when he was starting to gain some ground on his rival Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo had to ruin all the progress he has made in the past few weeks by reacting to Bosnia and Herzegovina fans by showing them middle finger.

According to Ronaldo, he was forced to act the way he did because of incessant criticism from fans during Portugal's training session ahead of their Euro 2012 play off fixture.

*Hermosa Beach resident Abby Wambach and Dancing with the Stars star Hope Solo join Diamond Bar's Alex Morgan and former LA Sol stars Marta and Aya Miyama on the 10-player short list.

Swedish U.S. women's coach Pia Sundhage is also up for FIFA Women's Coach of the Year.

The full lists are here.

Indonesian football is now limping headlong into another season marred by delays, confusion and, umm, more delays.
The 24 teams invited by the PSSI have split down the middle with half mumbling about going their own way. And come on...what country in the world can have four different top flights leagues in two seasons?

Rich, handsome and good at gesturing Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo was been courting controversy again after being filmed giving a middle-finger salute to Racing Santander fans who were giving him a bit of verbal at the airport. Ronaldo dismissed the incident, saying his gesture was aimed at team-mate and compatriot Pepe.

By Chris Wright

In which Cristiano Ronaldo is seen doling out the old middle-finger salute while boarding the Real Madrid coach after getting a pretty rough reception from fans gathered at Santander Airport...

It's all a bit 'Meh' in this humble scribe's opinion, but Ronaldo's gesture seems to have caused a wee bit of a stir in Spanish media circles, with a couple of outlets admonishing such a heinous act of aloof petulance while pro-Real spout MARCA are unsurprisingly claiming that the Portuguese greaser was in fact just flipping Pepe the bird an explanation that seems entirely plausible to me.

When you've been looking forward to watching football all week, putting the irritating staccato of everyday tests behind you and clutch at the panacea that only an Arsenal game can provide, and realize that ESPN have decided to telecast the Liverpool and Chelsea games in their unending ignorance, the mind can do little else but baulk.

Liver bird A strange moment from Saturday's match between Liverpool and Arsenal saw the Reds' Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles offering up a middle-finger salute to team-mate Lucas Leiva. The word from Liverpool supporters is that Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong has made a similar gesture to Lucas earlier in the match and that Meireles decided to [.

It may be Monday, but at least there's midweek football to look forward to. And also you don't have potentially painful, season defining trips to Udine, Italy, and Manchester to worry about after less than two weeks of action. So with the mood suitably brightened (unless you're an Arsenal fan), have some of the day's Liverpool miscellany to help waste the minutes until Wednesday rolls around.

Main Entry: ambiguity
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: uncertainty of meaning
Synonyms: double meaning, doubt, enigma, obscurity, puzzle, uncertainty, unclearness, vagueness, Felix Magath

Well, not yet, but his cryptic character should have long earned him an entry in a thesaurus.

Tonight, the United States Men's National Team kicks off its Gold Cup schedule against Canada. And for the first time in my life, I cannot bring myself to wholeheartedly endorse its efforts.

As a supporter of American soccer not to be confused with the United States Soccer Federation - it's not that I want to see the team lose.

Chuck and Jack in happier times (from Chuck's blog) - Jason Davis This site has yet to address the USMNT roster for the Gold Cup, and Bob Bradley certainly gave us plenty to talk about. Freddy returns. Fascinating. But Bradley for his picks and framing this as this all-guns-blazing-tournament (he'll either lay waste and win the title or go down giving us all the middle finger) will have to wait.

And they probably shouldn't given what we've seen of this kid.

Primed to cash in?

Neymar gave Chelsea the figurative middle finger nearly a year and a half ago following a protracted courtship that featured all the winks and blown kisses one could ever ask for.

Mr. Massimo Busacca has finally become a star performer and finally he has earned a nomination for Laureus sports awards. Mr. Massimo Busacca is very happy with this latest development. In case you were vacationing on Mars last night, this is what happened.

Man Of The Match: Massimo Busacca

Also Read:

Mr.

There are certain ways to go about voicing one's displeasure with the club's fans.

It appears flipping a sly bird isn't one of those ways.

Ruben Ramano was canned real quick for using his fooling-no-one-middle finger as a rebuttal for jeering fans after this weekend's loss. A real shame, too, because football needs more coaches willing to tell people to just fuck off.

Rooney's chubby middle finger to science and the so called ‘laws of gravity' were the main talking points of the weekend just gone. A goal so good that even after the slow-motion had revealed that it was the grizzled striker's shin bone doing most of the work, it was still lauded as the bestest ever by pretty much any United fan with the inclination to declare such things.

2009 saw Noh Alam Shah lead the Singapore exodus south to Indonesia. Followed by M Riduan, Precious, Baihakki Khaizan and Mustafic Fahruddin it appeared Singapore internationals had been seduced by the glamour, and wages, of the Indonesia Super League.
NAS and Riduan went on to win the ISL in their first season, collecting the trophy in front of 85,000 fans in Jakarta.