Pseudo Corner Kick

Oguchi Onyewu has finally moved on from Belgian side Standard Liege…at least temporarily. Onyewu has joined English Premier League side Newcastle on loan for at least the remainder of the 2006-2007 season. Recently, Onyewu was close to a deal to bring him to top French club Marseille. Let’s see if I can get all the rumored teams straight:

- Middlesbrough
- Real Madrid
- Fulham
- Inter Milan
- AC Milan
- Chelsea
- Marseille

That’s not a bad list of teams! I wonder how much of it was true and how much was positioning done by Onyewu’s agent or a team. I, personally, am glad that he is in the EPL. In the States we certainly have more access to EPL players than other Yanks abroad, not to mention that I’d question whether a move from Belgium to France was really a step up. I’m interested in seeing how the big guy performs in the EPL, not to mention where he will wind up permanently.

I was in the middle of writing up a heartfelt rant about some MLS teams not participating in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup when I saw this on the top of the LHUSOC webpage. Apparently the idea that only 8 teams will participate in the Open Cup was not entirely correct. It seems that only 8 teams will be participating in the Open Cup proper, but those 8 slots will be determined by qualification matches:

. . . a source close to the organization of this year’s tournament told USOpenCup.com that “the teams participating in the [SuperLiga tournament] will be included, either as automatic entries into the tournament, or participating in stand-alone qualifying matches against other MLS teams for the right to compete in the tournament.”

This is wonderful news. Regardless of your perception of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup, it is 1) our domestic cup championship and 2) in honor of a great man who was pivotal in the development of soccer in the US. For any MLS team to simply pass on the Cup tournament (as was originally thought based on earlier reportage) in favor of some silly experimental SuperLiga money grab would be a disgrace and a slap in the face of the legacy of the recently deceased Lamar Hunt.

Stop me if you have heard this one before…after rumors upon rumors, it appears more likely that Oguchi Onyewu will remain with Belgium club Standard Liege for the rest of the 2006-2007 season. When the transfer window opened at the turn of the calendar year, it seemed a done deal that Onyewu would wind up with fellow Americans Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey at Fulham. Superclubs Chelsea, AC Milan, and Inter Milan were also rumored to be in the mix. All for not. I’m not sure why the Fulham deal didn’t go through, although it was rumored Onyewu didn’t like something. British news reports that the Chelsea board blocked Jose Mourinho’s move for Onyewu even though he would have cost somewhere around a million. Finally, the Milan clubs supposedly have expressed interest, but I’ve seen nothing more than rumors. Remember, this past off-season, Onyewu had a deal to send him to Middlesbrough nixed in the end.

This has got to be frustrating for the big guy, to twice have the coach essentially say “I don’t expect him to play again for us”, only to have none of the many possible deals go through. It may be easier for Onyewu to move this summer, as he can move on a free transfer. I wonder, however, why none of these deals has been completed. Is Gooch or his team asking for too much? Do the teams not think of him too highly?

I just wanted to clarify something for those who may visit this site in the wake of the David Beckham news. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about his contract. I wanted to clarify that the MLS and AEG will NOT be paying him $250 million dollars a year to play soccer for the MLS (thanks to It’s a Simple Game for pointing this out). He will receive something on the order of $10 million dollars a year to step on the field and play soccer for the Galaxy. Even more importantly, MLS will only be paying $400,000 of that. AEG has to pony up the rest. The other 200 million odd dollars comes from sponsorships, i.e. Pepsi, Gillette, etc, paying for the right to use his image in their advertisements (as a side note, currently Real Madrid gets 50% of those fees, so he will be getting a pay raise after leaving Madrid). I’m not quite sure why everyone if focusing on the $250 million number. For instance, when A-Rod signed his obscene contract, it was reported only as the amount he gets for stepping on the field. They didn’t lump in the worth of his endorsements, did they (did they? Am I missing something?)? At least this Sports Illustrated article gets it straight:

Beckham’s playing contract falls well short of the big deals signed in Major League Baseball, where Alex Rodriguez is being paid $252 million and Derek Jeter $189 million, both over 10 years.

With all this information in hand, I feel better about the whole Beckham situation. MLS takes little financial risk (most of it is on Phil Anschultz and AEG) and gets a players that will raise the profile of the league. Hopefully tons of fans will come out to see Beckham at his away games, and maybe a small percentage of them will realize ‘Hey, this is a great game, Becks or no Becks. I wanna come back next week!’. One other concern is that the MLS will be seen as the retirement home for European players. While I agree this is a risk, I think we all need to keep in mind it was only 7 short months ago that Beckham was captain of the English National Team. Washed up, I think not, but it all depends on how seriously Beckham approaches the game here in the US.

Finally, as a DC United fan, having Beckham on the LA Galaxy will make their failures all the more enjoyable.

CONFIRMED!!! Superstar English midfielder David Beckham (and his wife Victoria, aka Posh Spice) has announced he will be coming to the U.S. to play in MLS starting in August. Beckham will finish the season with Spanish club Real Madrid, probably take a short summer break, and join the Los Angeles Galaxy in August.

I’m hoping that MLS, and soccer in America, will finally reach its potential and find a place in the saturated American sports landscape. Beckham can do so much for the sport, not so much on the field (although he is a very good player and should improve the quality of play in MLS), but especially off the field. The buzz and publicity he will create just by showing up should only be good for the sport.

As the noise gets louder and louder, shouldn’t we take notice? If it sounds like a train is bearing down on you, you’re not just going to stand there and see if it hits you (unlike Winston in Ghostbusters)…you’re going to get the hell out of the way. Well, America, it may be time to step aside…I hear the Beckham train coming down the tracks.

ABC News and the Sports Business Daily are amongst the news outlets reporting David Beckham’s imminent signing with MLS. Coincidentally (or not), these reports follow yesterday’s rumors that Beckham’s talks with current club Real Madrid have stalled. Whether they have stalled or not, Beckham seems to be on the outs with Real. I’m not one to much stock in rumors, but at this point, are we beyond rumors? I have a good feeling about this…

Choo Choo….

EDIT: Add CNN/SI to the mix. And this sounds more like CONFIRMATION!!!!!!!!! than rumors…

Clint Dempsey’s work permit was approved and now is officially a member of Fulham. I’m a bit surprised, but congratulations and good luck to Clint in the EPL. Good luck to Fulham, now with 3 (and possibly a 4th?) Americans, as well. Go Team America!

Not that this is surprising since it has been rumored for so long, but Fulham has announced its acquisition of midfielder Clint Dempsey. For the transfer to be completed, however, Dempsey must still receive a(n) UK work permit. His work permit status is uncertain as I don’t think he has the number of international caps required, but the appeal process is often successful.