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SBI MLS Player of the Week/Weak

David_beckham_ap

There’s only one David Beckham (And really, who could afford two?)

The star of stars showed why there’s more to him than tattoos and great crosses. Beckham erased a 2-0 Galaxy deficit with a pair of long-range bombs, including one of his trademark free kicks, to save the Galaxy a point from a 2-2 tie against Real Salt Lake.

Beckham gets this week’s Player of the Week honors, but the race wasn’t a complete runaway. Christian Gomez, Brad Guzan, John Thorrington and Alejandro Moreno all merited consideration for the award.

For those of you who haven’t seen Beckham’s goal, here they are after the jump (along with this week’s Player of the WEak):

Beckham’s goals:

Now, onto player of the weak. That dishonor goes to Kansas City rookie Roger Espinoza for his red card just 36 minutes into the Wizards’ 2-0 loss to Columbus. Veteran defender Frankie Hejduk reeled the rookie in and then took full advantage when Espinoza lost his cool and reached an arm out to clear some room, striking Hejduk in the process. Yes, the Wizards were already down 2-0 when the red card happened, but there was still time for KC to mount a comeback.

Other candidates for POWeak this weak include KC goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who looked lost on both Columbus goals (and who I came thisclose to giving it to since he’s a vet and Espinoza is a rookie), Luciano Emilio for doing his best invisible MVP impression and the entire San Jose offense for mustering one shot on goal in its first home game at its new home.

What did you think of the choices? Share your thoughts and your own candidates below.

Comments

  1. Hey Joamiq,

    Sorry dude. Watching that again… can I also add that it was 31 yards out and and a full 4 feet off the far near post.

    Hate to report, but world class goalkeepers simply never get beaten like that, unless is a ghastly error.

    Maybe 25 yards into the inside netting.

    But this is just Beckham playing men’s league, to be honest.

    For my money, Nate Jaqua makes that save.

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  2. Joamiq,

    I understand your wanting to defend Beckham, and the first goal was a real joy, but the reality is that any goalkeeper taller than 6ft taller who had the good sense to take an extra step makes that save easy. Most EPL goalkeepers make that save with their eyes closed, to be honest.

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  3. Amen, golfstrom. It’s always beneficial to the discussion when snobby infighting soccer nerds blast on Beckham and dump on MLS.

    Guys, just be a soccer fan and enjoy his talent and the exposure he’s given to the league! No, the MLS isn’t on par with a “top-shelf” or European “Big 4” league and won’t be for at least a generation (if ever, given how rapidly globalization continues to increase the class of those leagues as well). At least Beckham’s saying and doing all the right things on and off the field and wears his fame relatively well for a celebrity and athlete in this day and age.

    As for the quality of the MLS we should support the MLS because it’s our home league and will be the generator and beneficiary of American soccer talent to come. Without it there really would be no place or voice for the American soccer player. Besides, it IS continuing to grow and get better. Imagine ANY U.S. players making it to EPL WITHOUT the presence and influence of MLS. Foreign leagues serve their country’s soccer interests. We should serve ours.

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  4. Could you go ahead and add to Luciano Emilio’s name the rest of the DCU roster for the POWeak? This is a nightmare start to the season for us in the nation’s capital.

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  5. Agree with srfinger. Anyone who has watched England games in the past year knows that when Beckham plays, he drives their offense and almost singlehandedly creates their most dangerous scoring chances.

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  6. Kpugs,

    Yes, Rimando blew it on the free kick, but does that mean Beckham isnt any good?

    Have you seen the last to England matches in which Beckham played? He clearly still deserves to start for them and for stretches has been their best player. Thats slightly better than a “good MLS player”.

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  7. Sorry, but Rolfe’s goal was not nearly as good as either of Beckham’s. Rolfe made his shot look more difficult by bungling his first touch terribly. He had gobs of free space when he got the ball.

    Both of Beckham’s strikes were pure class. How anyone can say that his free kick would have been saved by any keeper is beyond me. He beat the wall. Rimando’s positioning was actually excellent – he got close to it because he knew that Beckham likes to bend it over or around the wall to the side of the net that the keeper usually depends on his wall to cover. Unfortunately for Rimando, it was an unsaveable shot. There was too much pace on it. Simply brilliant.

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  8. I think Peterson’s one timer for Colorado’s first could easily be there in place of one of Beckham’s. Definitely a little bias involved. But whther we like it or not this league still needs Becks so you won’t hear me cry too loud.

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  9. “I sooooo hope this little MLS marketing ploy backfires when the Becks vote is split between the two goals. Plus I want Rolfe to win.”

    Looks like it already has, Rolfe is way ahead.

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  10. The problem with Rimando wasn’t positioning so much as reaction time and footwork.

    Regardless, he is a capable second choice goalkeeper, but has no right in starting over Seitz.

    Ives, any idea why this is happening?

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  11. I have to disagree with Espinoza for POWeak… Onalfo doesn’t have the vision to leave him off the field, so Roger did a great thing: he stepped-up, and did what the coach wouldn’t do and removed himself from the game (and from the next game also.)

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  12. that free kick would’ve been stopped by almost any top-choice keeper in the world. it doesn’t go in against cech, van der sar, cassillas, buffon, reina, hell, even howard. that’s why he shouldn’t be in the top england 10. that, and bentley can do the same thing, but for 90 minutes. and so can joe cole.

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  13. funny picture.

    beckham has definitely been a class above; it’s ironic that he’s doing it a bit under the radar now (can you imagine the coverage if he was rolling MLS like this last year?). sweet sweet goals this week.

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  14. Modibo,

    i’m not a beckham fan, but i think you’d be hard pressed to say both DON’T qualify for the goal of the week voting….was any goal from this weeks action left off that should have been on the voting over either of Beckham’s goals? seriously, i didn’t see all the games, so i don’t know, but i can’t think of any in the games i did see highlights of.

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  15. Check out MLS’s GOTW competition. BOTH of Becks’s goals are nominated. As if he’s not going to clean up the POTW honors, MLS needs to shove him down our throats a little more.

    This is not to say that his goals weren’t good, or that he doesn’t deserve POTW honors. But come on – when is the last time a player has had TWO goals nominated in one week?!? I sooooo hope this little MLS marketing ploy backfires when the Becks vote is split between the two goals. Plus I want Rolfe to win.

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  16. It’s good for the league that the Beckham haters out there are finally having to admit that, yes, he is “great” relative to the rest of MLS.

    Unfortunately, now I think he is going to immediately go from being underrated (last season) to being overrated (people wondering why he isn’t an automatic selection for England), rather than people realizing the truth, i.e. that he is one of the best players in MLS, certainly not anything less than that, but nothing more either.

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  17. Beckham always does well. It was good to see him shoot. But his free kick should have never went in. A combination of Rimando being short and him not standing in the right place was a sure thing that it was for sure going in.

    I also think Chance Meyers deserved consideration for player of the Weak, Rogers owned him the whole game. Just way too fast for the rookie.

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