January 12, 2007
Red-letter Day - Grant Wahl - SI.com
Beckham, MLS a good fit - Marc Connolly - MLSNet.com
Pressure now on Becks to be the next Pele - Jamie Trecker - Fox Soccer.com
He's here to serve, and sell, a Greater good - Bill Plaschke - LA Times.com
Galaxy has Becks Appeal - Grahame L. Jones - LA Times.com
Living in America is Beckham's best option - ESPN.com
MLS' Galaxy sign David Beckham - USA Today.com
Fans call Toronto FC for "Beckham Tickets" - TSN.ca
Lalas delights at Becks coup - Sky Sports.com
MLS's Posh Pickup - Steven Goff - Washington Post.com
From Good Morning America to ESPN to Fox Soccer Channel to the local news, David Beckham has created a buzz around MLS that has never been seen before.
Who knows if this will work out in the long run. Who knows if this will be bigger than the NY Cosmos signing Pele. But one thing is for sure, Beckham coming to the LA Galaxy at 31 years of age will a create a buzz the likes of which soccer in America has never seen. Pele was huge. But, that was before the internet, before cable and satellite TV, and before the explosion of tabloid TV.
The LA Galaxy are already planning on rebranding the club.
Fans around the league are already calling about getting tickets to see Beckham live.
And he has yet to even play a minute in MLS.
Who knows where this will take MLS. But it's going to be a fun ride, that is for sure.
Montreal trades away their two top forward acquistions from last offseason
The Montreal Impact have sent 2006 leading scorer Mauricio Salles and Daniel Antoniuk to the Atlanta Silverbacks for forwards Fabian Dawkins and Jason McLaughlin.
Salles and Antoniuk were two of Montreal's high profile moves last offseason. The club signed Salles away from the Puerto Rico Islanders. Montreal then acquired Antoniuk in a trade with the Vancouver Whitecaps which sent former Rhino Eddie Sebrango to the eventual USL 1st Division champs.
Montreal made the trade in an attempt to add speed up top. Dawkins, a Jamacian international, scored 15 goals in 2005 with Atlanta, but was ineffective in 2006 after dealing with injuries.
MLS SuperDraft today
U-20 Men's National Team Draft Prospects: Seitz, Igwe, Arguez and Wallace - US Soccer.com
MLS Combine 07 Report - 3rd Degree.net
Draft not an exact science - MLSNet.com
2007 MLS SuperDraft - MLSNet.com
Toronto FC has been on the clock for a while now. Personally, I'm expecting them to trade down, perhaps with Columbus jumping up to take Maryland and US U-20 goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Although, with Columbus sitting at #2 right now, they may sit tight and hope that Seitz falls to them.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
