photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
If David Beckham makes a return to the Premiership after the MLS season, it appears it won't be with Queens Park Rangers.
The club's manager, Neil Warnock, played down rumors linking QPR with the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder on Thursday. Warnock said that he has not been involved in any discussions regarding Beckham, but he did admit his admiration for the 36-year-old's professionalism.
Beckham is currently in the final year of his contract with the Galaxy. Having not yet re-signed with the club, Beckham has been heavily speculated with a return to England during the upcoming winter transfer window.
Here are more stories from Thursday:
DROGBA SIDELINED FOR NEXT TWO GAMES
Didier Drogba is still recovering from the horrific head injury he suffered against Norwich City on August 27, and he's to miss Chelsea's next two games as a result. Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas said Drogba is all but guaranteed to miss the club's league match against Sunderland this weekend and likely to miss the Champions League fixture against Bayer Leverkusen next Tuesday. Villas-Boas is hopeful that Drogba can return for Chelsea's game versus Manchester United on Sept. 18.
BIN HAMMAM APPEAL DATE SET FOR NEXT WEEK
The Mohammed bin Hammam-FIFA saga that feels like it will never end is taking one step closer to doing just that. Bin Hammam's appeal date is set for next week, and the Qatari official has said that he expects it to end with his life ban from soccer being lifted. In July, Bin Hammam was ruled by FIFA's ethics committee to have arranged a $40,000 bribe to Caribbean officials to vote for him in his later abandoned election against FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
QATAR'S WORLD CUP COST COULD BE $220.6 billion
It's widely known that Qatar has money, but it might need up to cough up $220.6 billion for its 2022 World Cup costs. According to a Dr. Nicola Ritter, a German legal and financial analyst, Qatar would need $171 billion to build suitable facilities and stadiums. In addition, Qatar would need the additional $49.5 billion to build a transport infrastructure that would accomodate all of the visiting guests. Part of the country's costs would include building a brand-new city called Lusall, which would host the opening and final matches of the tournament.
SANDRO EXTENDS STAY WITH SPURS
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Sandro has signed a new five-year deal with the club that will keep him there until 2016. The Brazilian international, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery, joined Spurs last March. He quickly made his presence felt in his debut season, playing in 26 games across all competitions.
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What do you think of QPR playing down the Beckham rumors? Expecting Drogba to return in time for Chelsea's match versus Manchester United? How badly are you hoping that a small fraction of Qatar's expected World Cup costs accidently ends up in your bank account?
Share your thoughts below.
my feelings as well. well said
To be honest, I would argue that Belgium wasn’t dominant. Yes, they outplayed us for the last 20 minutes of the first half, but I don’t believe you can call their performance “dominant”. However, they did dominate in chances created statistically.
I hear ya, not to mention had it not been for Juan Pablo Angel’s horrible slump, he’d be at about 20 assists already! No joke, he had about 1.5-2 clear chances blown, poor Beckham, getting robbed by Angel’s poor form, damn imagine if he had gotten like 4 or 5 of those? They might have an 8 or 10 point lead for the Supporter’s Shield right now? lol
I hope my Galaxy can pull the win but also that he plays one more year, he didn’t get a chance to play at Empire Field but would LOVE to see what he does for Vancouver in terms of attendance next season at BC Place when the Whitecaps will have a 2nd season to gel and with better expectations, hopefully Jarju starts to keep up with Hasli and Camilo in terms of scoring and assisting.
But if he can play next season it will help Vancouver, Houston at their new stadium which should average a 85% sellout regardless considering that’s only 18,700 and they get barely below that already, hell with the LA game at the end of the season they will be well over that, so new stadium might meen over capacity crowd in Houston if Beckham stays.
Plus won’t be surprised to see Montreal play at Olympic Stadium, too bad San Jose doesn’t have their new SSS, but who knows maybe they’ll be brave and play LA & NY at the Standford stadium or Oakland Raiders’ Coliseum again?
Sounds to me like a few more people need to actually watch some Galaxy games. Beckham is still a player of enormous importance for the Galaxy, and his making the MLS XI for the all-star game was no cynical PR grab. And his game is more than just lobbing crosses; dude hustles, works hard, and keeps his teammates highly motivated. He may not be at the level of “Man U captain” anymore, but I’ll take him in my MLS midfield any day. If he leaves the Galaxy it will be a huge loss on the field for the Gals.
Not to mention Brasilia was started as a City that was MEANT to be build and developed, and NOW 51 years later it prepares to host World Cup games by reinforcing Hotels and mass transportation systems but they were at an advantage when they had already set up a Hotel and Tourism sector of the city.
All they really need to work on if they haven’t already, haven’t read into which stadiums are in trouble and which aren’t, is of course the stadium and training headquarters for national teams, but yeah Qatar is going to try to build a City from scratch in a sand pit in less than 11 years, no exactly the same thing, AND then get it ready to host World Cup opening and Final matches, the most important ones!
Juan Mata will be key I think? What I don’t know is if Villas-Boas prefers the 4-3-3 or the more safe 4-4-2?
Guess right now it might be better to go with the 4-3-3 with Torres-Mata-Anelka and have maybe Malouda alternate with Anelka depending on in week form and opponents, but what does do for the midfield? Ramires, Obi-Mikel…. ???
Meireles? In any way, I think Mata will help Torres score, he has a similar style and instincts the way Rafa sort of maximized to see Torres score a lot?
(I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s implying)
I think it’s time for Torres to step up with Drogba out for at least the next 2 games presumably. He has played well this year so maybe with him not having to look over his shoulder waiting for Drogba to come on, he can actually put some away. That would give him a HUGE confidence boost.
Only because you said field player! lol
I think Simon Elliot still holds that title and as long as Frankie Hedjuk stays active he has him beat in the Galaxy! LOL
Also I don’t know WHAT happened to him but Tyrone Marshall found new life in Colorado and their CBs don’t look like they will bench him any time soon? Maybe if Anthony Wallace can take over the Left back spot once again, and then Drew Moor can partner with Wynne again but Beck’s has work to do to get that title? lol
Assists don’t pay his salary.
Brasilia has a hospitable climate. The thing is, Qatar uses slave labor (basically) and can do almost anything because of it. However, building the facilities and staffing them to a level to host the World Cup are two different things.
Except Brad Davis doesn’t cause EVERY MLS team to have their biggest turnout.
With the exception of Seattle who had their biggest attended game when NY Red Bulls came into town with Henry, which is ironic considering he didn’t play in the game after the bogus red card he got in the stoppage time of the game at Portland who happens to be Settle’s rival lol, but anyhow yeah the Galaxy has been the best sell outs at every stadium, oh and I belive San Jose made the attempt to have a big NY game too by playing at Stanford’s stadium so they drew like 40K there as well, so all but 2 teams of the away games LA has played have been the best attended games, that’s why Beckham still is worth it. Davis is great but he doesn’t have the same thru balls and free kick scoring abilities.
Please see Brasilia.
Beckham has served his purpose to the utmost degree by coming to MLS. He has raised awareness of the sport in this country and has really put butts in seats at games.
Many people have come to the stadium for the first time because of Beckham and have enjoyed the experience and many will come back.
For that I praise him.
On the other hand, on the field, his usefulness is declining rapidly. I could see him playing one more year or two max, but that would be it.
I think he should transition into a promotional role for the league. He still can do much to promote the sport in this country.
He is 36 years old and I think will soon be the oldest field player in the league. It’s time for him to hang up the boots.
of course he is leading the league in assists, but yah, it’s all about the jersey sales, isn’t it? :/
Beckham has served his purpose to the utmost degree by coming to MLS. He has raised awareness of the sport in this country and has really put butts in seats at games.
Many people have come to the stadium for the first time because of Beckham and have enjoyed the experience and many will come back.
For that I praise him.
On the other hand, on the field, his usefulness is declining rapidly. I could see him playing one more year or two max, but that would be it.
I think he should transition into a promotional role for the league. He still can do much to promote the sport in this country.
He is 36 years old and I think will soon be the oldest field player in the league. It’s time for him to hang up the boots.
This is a perfect example of how a media-manufactured rumor can gro legs and just not go away. Fernandes didn’t help when he twittered that Beckham was “in his thoughts” but Beckham is probably “in the thoughts” of many clubs. There is zero, no, nada, indication that Beckham to QPR will ever happen. I should think were he to go back to the Prem it would be with Spurs, so he can be close to his father at the club at which he grew up. But it’s just as likely, probably more so, that he retires as a member of the Galaxy, he and his family are settled.
Imagine how much good that money could do for charity or for building infrastructure or schools in other poor countries in the middle east and transitioning countries in North Africa with the Arab Spring.
It is such a waste.
I’m also just plain bitter that the USA didn’t get it. It would have done so much for football in our country. I mean MLS is the best its ever been. There is a strong USMNT following. The WC in 2018 would put the sport really on the map.
stop typing clueless drivel please.
To SBI – would you argue that SBI is not a gossip site?
The next world cup is only 2.5 years away, in Brazil. They’ve got a city down there called Brasilia. Completely “built” city. They just decided they needed a new spot for the government and went out and tore down some jungle and made a whole new city. Now there’s going to be some world cup games there. If they can do it in Brazil, where money’s tight, they can do it in Qatar, where money’s no object.
I think that Beckham is worthless to MLS….
err, I mean, I think the Beckham is worth LESS to MLS.
He has sold his gagillion jerseys and his salary is based on that. Either that or Brad Davis deserves a very large pay raise.
Dude, that’s a ridiculous comment…but I sort of agree with you. While world cups are important, it feels like a waste to devote so many resources to build these elaborate stadiums and infrastructure that are not otherwise needed… It seems sad and contrived. But I suppose you could say the same thing about Man City..
Hell, sometimes they build an island first, then build the city on that island…
On a related note, is there any chance at all Beckham stays in MLS after this year?
It might seem absurd to you, but it’s not. Middle Eastern countries have built cities in the middle of the desert where no cities should exist, and yet somehow they work. It’s weird to see. It sounds absurd if you haven’t seen it before. But it’s definitely doable.
The words Beckham and professionalism should never be used in the same sentence.
no where does Franco say anything about it not happening. He uses “play down” in the title, says it “appears” he wont be with QPR, and again used “played down” when speaking of Warnock’s quotes. I’d say Franco played this one perfectly
This is the same guy that wrote, “Dominant Belgium tops USA in Brussels”
He clearly belongs at a gossip site.
(SBI-I wrote that headline. Would you argue that Belgium wasn’t dominant?)
Anyone else have the feeling that all that money could be better spent on…let’s say… ending world hunger?
how does one* go about…whoops…
Agreed…how does go about even “building a city?” The idea just seems absurd. Maybe before they invest all this money into a “brand new city” that will probably go unused after the WC is over, they should re-examine other possible sites that will need less to be ready in time…
Since Drogba was brought up, there is a pretty good ESPN piece right now on concussions in soccer.
With the recent upheavel in the Arab world, I wonder how cool Qataris will be with their absolute monarchy spending $200 billion on a month-long tournament that the lower class in the region won’t be able to afford.
Agreed.
Not having the conversation yet is no indication that it will not happen at all.
2022 will never happen.
Oh, and I wanted to reply to something you said yesterday. I agree that neither Donovan or Dempsey will be playing a major role in 2014 😀
Too many people have the most romanticized perception of the both of them.
220.6 billion dollars?
FIFA should be disbanded for awarding the World Cup to a country that needed a minimum of 220.6 billion dollars worth of construction for suitable facilities… not to mention 50 billion for transportation infrastructure.
Outrageous.
With serious questions already raised about the legitimacy of Qatar building stadiums & donating, as a part of their scam to buy votes, I think it’s laughable to believe they’re capable of building an entire city for this event.
Money isn’t the issue. Infrastructure and implementation is.
To say nothing of the heat for the players, freedom of speech (or lack thereof) for journalists & issues with women of all ethnic backgrounds not adhering to archaic traditions when attending the games.
2022 is going to be a show and likely for all the wrong reasons.
Franco — I think yo’ve gone too far in the other direction. You write that Beckham won’t be with QPR. Warnock never said that — he just said he hasn’t talked to the owner about Beckham joining the team. The owner has already said he’d like to see Beckham in the team. Media went overboard in taking that tweet and constructing non-existent discussions. YOu’re going too far in the other direction in saying they won’t happen. They may not happen, but you can’t get that from Warnock’s comments.