The LA Galaxy scored three second half goals to defeat the Kansas City Wizards.
As I write this blog David Beckham is somewhere in the sky flying back to England to prepare for the U.S./England friendly on Wednesday.
Beckham continues to make believers out of MLS fans and again is making people eat their words that he is only a commercial property.
Tonite in LA he proved he is multi-dimensional and not just a free kick taker.
Amazing passes, defensive effort and leading by example were just a few of the elements he brought to go along with a goal and an assist.
Oh on to his amazing goal.
With Kevin Hartman caught forward after coming up for a corner kick. Beckham found the ball on the right side and with an empty net time stood still……..and Beckham from 60 yards out hit an empty net straight as an arrow up the middle to provide goal number three in the 3-1 win.
Landon Donovan also was outstanding and focused playing as an out and out striker and then dropped into midfield as Ruud Gullit changed his tactics which KC had no answer for………Beckham making it happen in MLS? You better believe it.

Notes:

*LA started poorly and KC was the better team in the first half and led 1-0 at the break on a great goal from former Argentine national team player CLAUDIO LOPEZ.

* LA set the tempo in the second half and was the aggressor and received a penalty kick when David Beckham played a ball into the box and Landon Donovan went down after contact from Tyson Wahl. Legitimate penalty in my mind despite other reports and NO KC PLAYERS EVEN APPROACHED OR COMPLAINED TO THE REFEREE.

*Goal number two was a different story from Donovan to Edson Buddle, put together nicely but Buddle seemed a half yard off-side.

*Beckham then scored a rare goal from inside his own half that hit an empty net with KC goalkeeper Kevin Hartman caught upfield after coming forward for a KC corner.

*LA defender Sean Franklin a rookie out of Cal-State Northridge is actually leading the way at the back and shows great range and composure for a youngster. Ruud Gullit apparently had a heart to heart with Abel Xavier which seems to be working.

* Donovan and Beckham are highly motivated and leading the way though I still have major doubts when these two are extracted from the team for international duty.

OTHER MLS RESULTS:

FC DALLAS 2 RSL 1 — Come from behind victory at PHP in Frisco over former Dallas player Jason Kreis and RSL.

DC United 3 Toronto FC 2 –Huge win for Tom Soehn who may have saved job for the time being

Chivas USA 2 Colorado 1 –Rapids back to their normal ways. Marsch and Flores for the “goats” . McManus amazing blast
for Colorado who lose at home.

NE 1 Columbus 0 Kheli Dube game winner brings first Crew loss at home of the year.

*DYNAMO ALL ACCESS WITH GLENN DAVIS TUESDAY NIGHT AT STAGS HEAD PUB 59 AND SHEPERD STARTING AT 7PM

*NICKSTEAM.ORG

*HOMEFORTHEDYNAMO.COM

The world of managing top soccer clubs is a fine line.
After ending up as runner up in both the EPL and Champions League Final, Chelsea have fired 53 year old Israeli manager Avram Grant after two days of talks with Peter Kenyon.
Amazingly Grant is removed after the “epic” Champions League final that took place this past Wednesday which Chelsea lost on penalty kicks.
Did Grant deserve to be fired?

In all the hype of the Champions League I have lost sight of the Mexican league playoffs which are always entertaining and exciting. Here is the set-upt:

Today at 5pm: CRUZ AZUL vs. SAN LUIS at Estadio Azul in Mexico City (Cruz Azul lead 1-0 on aggregate)

Sunday at 5pm: MONTERREY at SANTOS at Estadio Corona (aggregate 1-1)

PREDICTION: CRUZ AZUL VS SANTOS FINAL

*NOTE* Santos def/mid EDGAR CASTILLO grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico to Mexican parents and has dual citizenship.
Castillo played in the ODP system but slipped through the cracks to go back to play in Mexico and was ultimately capped by Mexico and then coach Hugo Sanchez. “El Homie” the nickname given to Castillo slipped through the cracks.
Note that Michael Orozco who also would be eligible for Mexico is in the 22 player roster for the U.S./England game this week.
More than ever U.S. soccer has to keep track of it’s players that have eligibility to play for Mexico or else they could be representing the “tricolore”.
Interesting story that continues as Castillo apparently has had interest from England.

BOCA OUT

Websites have indicated that Carlos Bocanegra is out at Fulham which seemed to be in the cards. Is he on his way back to MLS? I know a few teams that could use an experienced central defender ……..

Wishing all of you a happy Memorial Day weekend.
I attended the LA Galaxy practice yesterday ahead of our exclusive broadcast on HDNET tonite of LA and KC.
The game airs at 9:30 pm central time and should be interesting.
LANDON DONOVAN and DAVID BECKHAM will play against each other and then head to England where the UNITED STATES will take on the “THREE LIONS” on Wednesday in an international friendly at the “new” Wembley Stadium (2:30 eastern on ESPN Classic).
Donovan will earn his 100th cap at only 26 years of age while Beckham could pick up 101.

The Galaxy practice included technical work, set pieces and some possession play. Beckham worked on his delivery and was professional throughout. Even had a bit of fun trying to chip balls at assistant coach Cobi Jones and Ruud Gullit as they left on a golf cart.
Being exclusive on HDNET gave us the chance to interview David Beckham who addressed his youth influences, culture of Galaxy, playing vs LD in friendly, being a target in MLS amongst other things. I have interviewed Beckham three times now and he is always cordial, extends a hand to shake and willing to give his time.
KC comes in after a 1-1 draw while LA dismantled FC Dallas 5-1 costing Steve Morrow his job as head coach for the “hoops”.
Should be a good one tonite from the Home Depot Center.

Lots of emails and posts coming in questioning Dynamo for not upgrading squad enough (they are still looking to do this) while others have improved teams. Some have even questioned the Dynamo desire after having won two MLS Cups?
So fanatico’s….what is the problem in your mind? Or are we over-reacted based on the Western Conference standings?

CHECK THESE WEBSITES OUT: NICKSTEAM.ORG- Fight cancer through soccer and support my buddy Nick’s tournament.

Homeforthedynamo.com- Fans becoming active in support of a new stadium. Awesome!

Just a quick opinion on FC Dallas. Was Morrow whacked at the right time. Was this a knee-jerk reaction to a crushing, missed opportunity to perform in front of a sell out crowd? FC Dallas has a history of questionable leadership …was Morrow the right coach in the first place after being an assistant to Colin Clark?
Irregardless Morrow collected some talented players but the up and down nature of the squad was obvious and it seemed as though he may have been losing some players……FC Dallas has normally given coaches long ropes, not so in this situation and you were wonder if this was a statement to fans or a CYA from the front office.
Tom Soehn at DC United also seems to be in hot water and rumor has his firing imminent. Don’t like seeing coaches fired but the reality is that David Beckham has ushered in a new PRESSURE.

The Dynamo got beat 2-1 at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University last night. Kei Kamara and Ivan Guerrero getting goals for San Jose and Brian Ching scoring for the Dynamo.
The game aired on ESPN2 and I am sure many Dynamo fans saw this game.
What other than the loss did you take away from this game? Here are my thoughts:

*Small field did not benefit Dynamo . I know Robertson is tight but it just seemed like fluid play was missing all around for extended periods. A larger surface at this time period would benefit the Dynamo. Tough to judge things.

*San Jose predictably was a different team “energy and effort” wise than last weekend against NE.

* I keep thinking of the potential abscences in the future with World Cup qualifying and Olympics. Onstad, DeRosario, Ching, Clark, Holden, Ianni, Ashe………This is going to be a tough period for MLS…

DYNAMO SOCCER REPORT WITH GLENN DAVIS TONITE ON CHANNEL 55 AT 9:30 PM

*INTERVIEWS : JOHN SPENCER, CORY ASHE

* LOCKER ROOM TOUR

* RUMORS, RANTS AND RAVES

*HIGHLIGHTS

FREE KICK MASTER HAVE added Martin Palermo, Fernando Torres, Robinho, Rafa Marquez and more. Go to freekickmasters.com for info

*BEST YOUTH SOCCER TOURNAMENT YOU COULD EVER PLAY IN !!! NICKSTEAM.ORG

HOMEFORTHEDYNAMO.CO- cool website started by passionate fans. Lets get behind these key Houston area events and happenings.

So MANCHESTER UNITED won the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE ON penalty kicks over Chelsea.
Who said an all English League final would be dour?
The real key here was the early Manchester United goal from Cristiano Ronaldo that brought Chelsea out to play.
I give United the first half but the FRANK LAMPARD goal was a huge boost going into the locker room tying things at 1v1.

CHELSEA came out smoking in the second half and had the better of the play and were unlucky not to go up.
How about DIDIER DROGBA’S ball that smashed off the post in the 75th minute…amazing strength , power and technique with a small window to get off the shot.

CRISTIANO RONALDO is the greatest all around attacking player in the world in my opinion. To produce the volume of goals (42) he has as a winger is amazing plus he consisently gets in the penalty area to score goals, many by the way with his head.
The element of surprise he brings by getting into the box from a wide position is amazing…

This one was an emotional cauldron and just a shame it went to penalties…..Have your say on the Champions league and what were your most poignant moments? The Drogba ejection, the Ronaldo goal, penalties? Was Chelsea the better team? How steamed was WAYNE ROONEY when he was subbed out for NANI in extra time? What about the amazing athletic ability from John Terry to head away chance from Ryan Giggs…..

THIS FROM THE NO BRAINER CATEGORY

If you are FCDALLAS go and get Dynamo Assistant coach JOHN SPENCER to lead the revival against your compadres to the South.
And if it isn’t Spencer you have to be lining up PAUL MARINER of NE as well.
Was Steve Morrow the sacrificial lamb? Somebody had to go after the embarrassment of that loss to LA last weekend.
I have always been a proponent of bringing Hugo Sanchez to MLS to coach….go get him FC Dallas!!

Catch the LA GALAXY and KC on HDNET this weekend.
HDNET will have a halftime interview with David Beckham……..so what do you want to know from brand BECKHAM?

BTW RYAN GIGGS appeared for his 759th time for Manchester United breaking the record of legend Bobby Charlton.
Hard to fathom that one man played this many games for one club!!

MANCHESTER UNITED will take on CHELSEA today in the Champions League final in Moscow, Russia so head over to Stags Head Pub at 1:30 to check it out. Should be a good crowd and its a great place to watch the game. Not to mention that Stags Head Pub is a sponsor of DYNAMO ALL ACCESS WITH GLENN DAVIS and is actually giving back to the game and the sport in the media.
So my thanks to the Stags Head Pub.
Ok lets talk the game.
A simplistic view of it looks like this to me: Chelsea will marginalize midfield as always and try to limit the space Manchester United has to play their possession game. Chelseas will seek it out on the counter-attack with Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack who will both be a challenge for Manchester United.
Chelsea will have to be organized to deal with Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney……..post here with your pre and post game thoughts.
Is it a time of destiny for Chelsea to knock off the “Red Devils”?

PREDICTION: MANCHESTER UNITED

DYNAMO will take on SAN JOSE tomorrow on ESPN2 from Northern California after a solid win over Chicago making it two in a row.
Have called the NE/San Jose game in Foxboro this past weekend I can only say that San Jose was poor. I expect they will bring a bit more emotion tonite and don’t expect the welcome mat to be put out for the Dynamo. The whole love affair thing is San Jose is waning now that they have a club back . Some fans will take the approach that the Dynamo are traitors and of course we all know the re-location was not the players fault.
A little emotion even if it is mis-guided is ok.

MORROW OUT IN DALLAS

Shocked to hear that Steve Morrow was released but lets face it. The problems in Dallas do not lie solely on his shoulders.
I guess he was the scapegoat in the embarrassing home loss. They certainly looked disoriented and disorganized in the 5- l loss to LA…….What a struggle in Frisco….Personally I go back to leadership.

FREE KICK MASTERS

FREE KICK MASTERS has added Rafa Marquez, Diego Forlan, Robinho and Fernando Torres to the skills event on July 5th at Reliant Stadium. The list continues to grow and it will be amazing to see this level of talent all on one field taking free kicks.
The competition has shooters taking free kicks from three different areas trying to beat some of the best goalkeepers in the world like Oliver Kahn of Germany.
The prize is one million dollars for the free kick winner while the top goalkeeper takes home a prize of five hundred thousand.
Dynamo players Dwayne DeRosario and Brad Davis will compete in this event with world stars.

NBC to broadcast soccer Olympics

Be ready for some interestin coverage by NBC in soccer on this summers Olympics which will take place in China.

First lets talk about the idiotic tackle from Adrian Serioux of FC Dallas.
Here is the scenario. It’s the 75th minute of a game that was over in the first half (FC Dallas was down 4-0 at halftime at home) and Adrian Serioux for some inexplicable reason lays into David Beckham (from behind no less) and apparently says “WELCOME TO THE MLS BABY.” &%&%())** I am confused……so was this a statement of what ? Jealousy?
Maybe Serioux should have shown more desire in the first half while LA was running rampant scoring four goals.

Now back to the tackle, fortunately Beckham glanced behind him and saw Serioux so he got off the ground …..Serioux should get fined heavily for this and I would say three games and monetary fine.

And for the record before Dallas fans begin to email me, I was pulling for FC Dallas because the game was a huge opportunity with a full house to win over new fans…….sadly the squad didn’t live up to the moment. In MLS these opportunities are rare and I am always hoping that the home team produces a great night of soccer to send fans home happy.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Place to be is the STAGS HEAD PUB this Wednesday at 1:30pm for the Champions League Final between MANCHESTER UNITED AND CHELSEA….for the record I believe Manchester United will win the all ENGLISH Final.
Clarence Seedorf who has won the Champions League with Ajax, Milan and Real Madrid will sit in on the ESPN broadcast on both the English and Spanish side…….so are you with me with Man U or will Chelsea surprise?

DYNAMO ON ESPN 2

You will have time to recover before Thursday night when the Dynamo go to San Jose for an emotional return to the Bay Area.
BRIAN CHING told me last week some of the fans during pre-season were really glad to see them while others have already turned on the former players who brought two titles to the Bay Area…..all good for the rivalry but don’t expect the best of receptions from all in San Jose this Thursday night…….sounds like a great motivator to go along with a 2-1 win over the CHICAGO FIRE this past weekend……..

RED CARDS: To San Jose, FC Dallas, DC United……….really poor performances from these trio of teams this past weekend.

THUMBS UP: Dynamo win at Chicago, LA leading league in goals scored, Inter winning the Serie “A” and Kevin Hartman’s amazing performance in goal at NY to earn KC a 1-1 draw….

Head out to Stags Head Pub tonite for Dynamo All Access with Glenn Davis , tonite Dynamo radio announcer Steve Mark will host the show…….Stags Head Pub is located at Sheperd and 59 and will also be a great place to catch the Champions League final this Wednesday afternoon.

Great day to be a Dynamo fan as they are back in the Western Conference hunt (if they were ever really out of it?) with a great win over Chicago. Thanks for all the great posts about the Dynamo win. Couple of notes from the weekend:

*SERIE A fans …where are you ? No comments on INTER MILAN’S title? For that matter what about the FA Cup Final between Portsmouth and Cardiff? Don’t care? Nwanko Kanu (how old is he really) gets the game winner for Portsmouth…..

*Love the fact that Dwayne DeRosario and Brad Davis will be in the FREE KICK MASTERS skills competition on July 5th. Dynamo representation in this was important and who knows they may just win the million bucks. They will be in season, fit and practiced while I bet some of the stars like Ronaldinho, Kaka, Deco, etc. might drop their guard a bit….more starts apparently signing on according to Camelot Entertainment so this could be a great boost for soccer overall in the area….

*Ronnie O’Brien of San Jose told me he wanted out of Toronto due to artificial surface. Toronto FC also practices on the stuff which makes it difficult on players who have had injury problems or are in latter stages of career like Laurent Robert….Notice SJ coach Frank Yallop took O’Brien out at halftime of the Quakes at Revs game this past Saturday night to get him off the fake stuff………By the way San Jose was unprofessional in their effort and they are the next Dynamo opponent . SHould be emotional stuff on Thursday night.

*What a missed opportunity from FC Dallas who finally get a sold out house and produce a poor performance. Missed opportunity against LA who led 4-0 at halftime…..MLS teams have to produce on this big “opportunity’ nights. I actually was pulling for FC Dallas as the home team to get the result and send their fans home happy…Buddle hat trick……

*Ok on to Adrian Serioux, horrible tackle, needs three games and does it when the game was over…not a great move……

*Did you see Patrick Viera on Inter cut Fernando Couto of Parma going up for a header……

Get out to Stags Head tonite and I will see you next Monday on my return….

Having called the NE/San Jose match last night at Gillette Stadium all I can say is that I may have seen the worst MLS game of the year. Certainly it was the most passionless. Was it just one of those nights? Maybe. But when it comes to San Jose it was a less than professional performance just from the standpoint of coming to compete.
From the opening whistle it looked as though the Earthquakes did not want to be in NE.
The Revolution scored 6 minutes in through a poorly defended free kick which Kheli Dube finished and then probably the worst own goal of the season when James Riley went to head back to Joe Cannon who raced off his line. Riley put his header over Cannon and in.
The second half was a bit better from the Quakes but you could see that San Jose coach Frank Yallop was clearly upset about the lack of fight and desire.
I have not seen anything on the Dynamo except the result against the Fire so help me out here with your thoughts on the game…