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Beckham set to miss Galaxy match for Neville Testimonial

DavidBeckham (ISIPHotos.com)

David Beckham is set to miss another match. No, not with an injury, and not for another Royal Wedding.

No, Beckham looks ready to miss another MLS regular season match for the Los Angeles Galaxy to play in a testimonial match.

Manchester United is holding a Testimonial Match for Gary Neville on Tuesday and Beckham is expected to play in the match honoring his long-time teammate and closest friend. The Galaxy is set to face the Houston Dynamo the next day at Home Depot Center.

Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena suggested on Thursday that he was likely to rest Beckham for the Dynamo match, which would clear the way for Beckham to attend the Neville Testimonial.

While the Galaxy has yet to come out and formally announce the decision, comments made by both Beckham and Arena seem to suggest the move is a foregone conclusion.

"At the moment it's not been decided," Beckham said about whether he'd attend Neville's Testimonial. "I think the organization and Bruce know how important it is for Gary (Neville).

"They will decide after the game on Saturday and then we'll wait and see," Beckham said. "It's such a tremendous occasion for Gary, celebrating it in the way he's going to be doing it. That era, the '92 era, was such an important phase in our lives. It's a big occasion.

"It's important for me to be there for Gary more than anything," Beckham said. "That's the big thing, but the final decision is obviously up to the boss and the organization, so we'll see."

Arena told reporters that he was planning to rest Beckham for the Dynamo match anyway, and also downplayed the strain traveling to England might put on Beckham.

What do you think of this development? Have a problem with Beckham missing another Galaxy match to attend an event in England? Think it's an understandable absence?

Comments

  1. Backe wouldn’t let him. Backe has benched Henry. Bruce has benched Angel, but Beckham has never been benched, even when he stunk up the pitch (which he has done on a number of occasions).

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  2. Sorry inform you Jack but the Galaxy have a better record without him than with him. You can look at the record and do the math yourself. The Galaxy are approximately 9 points better off per season without him.

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  3. this just in…. Beckham will miss another game in July in order to attend Tom Cruise’s birthday party. Bruce Arena has given his blessing. “Everyone at the Galaxy knows what a massive occasion this is. It’s important that I be there for Tom.” gushed Beckham, adding ” it’s not as if birthdays come along every year”.

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  4. Even for the Royal Wedding all of MLS pandered to Beckham. I don’t believe it was coincidence that the schedule wasn’t released until late February and conveniently put the Galaxy game on that weekend on Sunday.

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  5. It’s an EXHIBITION match! He’s a professional and he’s leaving his club to play in a gsme that means NOTHING.

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  6. I’m trying to think of an analogy here. This is the best I’ve got so far. Your steady girlfriend breaks a date with you to go to the concert of her ex-boyfriend’s band. She doesn’t do it behind your back, she assures you that she isn’t interested in him anymore, and your date was only going to be pizza and a movie.

    Does this necessarily mean it’s over between you and your girlfriend? No, not necessarily. Is it nonetheless uncool? Yes, very, very uncool.

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  7. THIS IS YET ANOTHER REASON FOR MLS TO ALIGN ITSELF TO THE FIFA CALENDAR.

    I am not making excuses for Becks, in fact being a Galaxy fan myself it outright pisses me off. I wish our club had more backbone and just told him to piss off, we are paying the f*er!
    But I also have to say that these situations would not crop up with this and then the Gold Cup, World Cup, hell maybe even EuroCup taking MLS players away if we were to just align to FIFA. We could even just start a month or two earlier and have the summer break instead.

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  8. Tightwad Galaxy? You do realize that there is a salary cap right!?!? They spend a bunch on thier players, and they get those veteran retreads on deals that lets them also have Donovan, Angel, and Beckham salaries.

    Beckham does generate some revenue (but it is declining) and they would be wiser to let him go at the end of the year an invest in a new DP who can generate excitment and actually cares about the team.

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  9. Why should the LA Galaxy care about that? Bottom line, they need to do what is best for the club, not what is best for Beckham and his Man U a$$ clowns.

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  10. What a loser. I cannot believe I actually supported getting this guy into MLS. My friends made fun of me when I said it was going to be a good thing and he would take the league seriously. They were right…

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  11. I refuse to believe that all is lost if one person is out of the lineup. If that is the case, Arena should be replaced. But let’s suppose you’re right. We may need a rebuilding year. So what? Every team goes through them. And just imagine what the Galaxy could do with $6.5mm a year, particularly with more foreign players interested in playing with MLS. Let the primadonna go.

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  12. The Biggest MLS fan here.

    and

    I don’t care if the league has “respect” from other leagues….why would I ?

    That is something that people that don’t know soccer and call MLS an “amateur league” care about.

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  13. Yes, they have played FIVE more games than RSL. Every team below them has a couple of games in hand. With the right combination of results they could be fifth in the west once teams catch up with them in terms of games played.

    Sure, they are capable of being a good team, but they also lost to Dallas with was missing their best player and dropped points to PHL and DC. Their only recent convincing win was against the worst team in the league (KC).

    Related point, do teams ever let games skip out on matches without pay? LA is paying him $6.5M, if he wants to jet over to England every other week for “can’t miss” events, why should they keep paying him? At some point its breach of contract.

    Also, without playoffs the second half of the season would be meaningless for half of the teams. EPL is competitive to the last week for the vast majority of the teams, because about every spot in the standings means something.

    You want to win the championship. Get a spot in the CL, get into Europa, avoid relegation. It means out of 20 spots, over half have meaning.

    MLS is not gonna go to relegation/promotion in the next 20 years, so I am fine with the playoffs. They keep more of the matches meaningful late in the season.

    The league should also do a better job making the Supporter’s Shield more important (money, trophy, etc..), but without the playoffs, what would have the teams have to play for right now?

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  14. He is not the best player on his own team. He is not even close to the best player in the league.

    Maybe he did bring more pub to the league initially by coming over, but his blatant disregard and disrespect to his teammates and team are doing nothing but harming MLS now.

    Maybe he will do us all a favor and not return. If not, we can only hope the goons in charge of LA will drop him after this season.

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  15. Funny hoe MLS fans talk about earning respect from other leagues and yet they let their own players piss all over them.
    MLS is still an amateur league with players that show up only when they have nothing better to do on a weekend.

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  16. Galaxy are Beckham’s puppets, he can use them in any way he likes. He treating MLS like the second rate league it is (unless they raise the SC), and it’s a shame. Too bad most Americans wil continue to worship him while, he direspects them year after year, in their own league.

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  17. “It’s such a tremendous occasion for Gary, celebrating it in the way he’s going to be doing it. That era, the ’92 era, was such an important phase in our lives. It’s a big occasion. It’s important for me to be there for Gary more than anything.”

    And why would the Galaxy care about Gary Neville exactly? Or the “class of ’92”? Or anything other than winning games and maintaining continuity in the regular season? It’s ridiculous.

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  18. “What soccer fan didn’t love watching that generation of Man United players?”

    Not to rain on your parade, but those players were some of the most reviled in England. Were they successful? Damn right. But please ask any self-respecting fan of a United rival what they thought of Gary f-ing Neville, and if they’d be OK with one of their current players missing a regular season match to go “honor” him in a puffball exhibition match in the MIDDLE of the season!

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  19. This is the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard. Missing a real match to play in a fake one? HAHAHAHA He has to go back to keep his name in the English papers, so he can continue to sell Pepsi and underwear.

    I guess every player on the team should start randomly missing games to attend weddings and celebrity golf tournaments and whatever else. Just play for the Galaxy if you have nothing better to do.

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  20. Accept it?

    Um, no. He might be a nice guy who can still deliver on set pieces but so what? It’s just one more example of Becks’ lack of commitment to MLS.

    Beckham to MLS was a successful move to market the league and his brand, but it’s been an offense to longtime fans.

    THAT I can accept.

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  21. I agree w/others; w/the lousy MLS Playoff system used to determine the league championship, one missed game means nothing. MLS places very little importance on the best season record. Why should anyone else. A player could bust his butt allseason and a mediocre team could get lucky during playoffs and be crowned champs.

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  22. I agree.

    With the play off format one single game just doesn’t mean that much.

    What soccer fan didn’t love watching that generation of Man United players?

    Of course, if Becks makes it and Keane doesn’t come, I’ll be pissed.

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  23. I’m an RSL fan who moved back to the LA area a year or so back…maybe I will join you on Saturday night….:) Being half English, I can tell you my Uncle’s who live outside of Manchester can’t stand Beckham nor can allot of England fans…Becks is all about himself and his brand…nothing more and nothing less and has been for quite sometime…some folks may not like it but Donovan was right what he said about him last year…nailed it…

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  24. I’m a HUGE Galaxy fan, and let me say this:

    He’s going! He does what the HELL he wants with my club and this league. And the worse part is that I RESPECT Bruce Arena, but i’m starting to lose my patience with it all…I HOPE that my fellow Galaxy fans that will be at the match on Saturday will make banners and posters displaying how we really feel about this “committed” person. Do it similar to what they did when he came back from AC Milan on his first loan spell with them…Becks, go back to England!!!!!!

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  25. Beckham wants to go to AC Milan, Beckham wants to go to AC Milan again, Beckham wants to go to the Royal Wedding, Beckham wants to go to a testimonial match. Beck wants to do everything but be committed to the Galaxy. With every decision he makes how can you not have less and less respect for the guy?

    And really? “It’s important for me to be there for Gary more than anything,”? More then anything? More then helping your team win? If it’s that important to be there, ask Gary to respect your commitment and reschedule the match so it fits your schedule.

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  26. my point is that if you are under contract with an nba, nfl, etc., team you do not miss games, unless injured. period. players often don’t get a game off even if their wife’s giving birth or dad’s sick. it’s just 34 regular season games he needs to show up at-he has the rest of the year for celebrity events.

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  27. I agree. It’s not just a testimonial to Neville but a celebration of that group of players as a whole. Without those players by his side and the academy’s work they put into them, they may have never become the players they are today.

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  28. The Beckham experiment was a failure….MLS has got to be glad its about over….he would never try and do this if he were with Manchester United….

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