David Beckham News

WASHINGTON (AP) _ David Beckham emerged from the home baseball dugout at RFK Stadium in a Los Angeles Galaxy uniform, waved a few times to the crowd, then took his seat on the end of the bench _ with the rest of the substitutes. Beckham was among seven substitutes on the Galaxy's lineup sheet for Thursday night's game against D.C. United, giving the sellout crowd of more than 45,000 at least some optimism that the English midfielder ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ David Beckham attracts Hollywood stars the same way he draws defenders on the soccer field. In large numbers. A glittery array of actors and entertainment world luminaries turned out Sunday for what was billed as an official welcome-to-Los Angeles party for the international soccer icon and his wife, Victoria Beckham. With Tom Cruise and Will Smith playing co-hosts for the invitation-only bash at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Geffen Contemporary gallery, the guest list ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The Los Angeles Galaxy's website has been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until superstar David Beckham joins the Major League Soccer team. But does anyone besides hard-core soccer fans, admirers of the dashing and fashionable Englishman or paparazzi care in a country where interest in the sport known overseas as football has never registered more than a blip? ``I'm not quite sure why, but Americans think soccer's boring,'' said Doug Wood, ...

NEW YORK (AP) _ It's already time to brand it like Beckham. Adidas is launching an advertising campaign this week featuring English soccer star David Beckham and New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush swapping sports during practice in ``Futbol vs. Football.'' ``There's very few people whose names transcend their own sports. People know the name of David Beckham, whether they follow soccer or not,'' said Stephen Pierpoint, vice president of brand marketing for Adidas America. After helping Real ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ David Beckham missed a Real Madrid training session on Tuesday to rest his injured left ankle. He was hurt in his country's 3-0 win over Estonia in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship last week, but played in Madrid's 2-2 draw at Zaragoza in the Spanish league on Saturday. Raul Bravo, Antonio Cassano and Miguel Torres also sat out the practice due to injuries. Madrid is unbeaten in 11 games since Beckham was ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello admits he was wrong to drop David Beckham earlier this season. Capello benched Beckham in January, questioning his motivation, after the England star signed a five-year deal to join the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. But, since being reinstated by Capello, Beckham has played a major role in Madrid's charge toward a possible 30th Spanish league title. ``The truth is with him we were all wrong,'' ...

MADRID, Spain (AP) _ David Beckham will play for Real Madrid at Zaragoza on Saturday despite a left ankle injury. ``I'm going to travel to Zaragoza and I'm going to play,'' Beckham, who did not train with the team Friday, told sports daily Marca. Beckham could win his first major trophy with Madrid if the team beats Zaragoza _ and FC Barcelona and Sevilla lose _ this weekend. Madrid leads two-time defending champion Barcelona on head-to-head results. Both ...

BRISTOL, England (AP) _ David Beckham has launched a ``School Zone'' website to improve students' soccer skills and educational achievements. The Real Madrid midfielder unveiled his free coaching guide, www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.co.uk during a visit Monday to the City Academy School in Bristol, southwest England. ``I have seen firsthand how boys and girls respond to the coaches at the academy,'' the former England captain said. ``I am extremely proud of the work ...

David Beckham's four-year stay at Real Madrid did the Spanish club's finances a lot of good. Too bad about the results on the field. Beckham failed to win a single major trophy with Madrid as the storied club experienced its worst slump since the early 1950s. The 31-year-old midfielder, who signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday, will now get a chance to earn some honours ...

Quotes after David Beckham's announcement that he signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy and will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season: ``I've played now for two of the biggest clubs in the world and played at the highest level for 15 years and now I think that I need another challenge.'' _ Beckham. ``There are so many great sports in America. There are so ...

Bend this, TomKat and Brangelina: Becks `n' Posh are coming to Hollywood. And David Beckham didn't even have to audition to become the next American Idol. The most recognized soccer player on the planet _ fashion icon, tabloid fixture, marketing giant _ agreed to a five-year deal Thursday to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy. ``David Beckham is a global sports icon who will transcend the sport of soccer in ...

People will read who's headed for Hollywood and assume they've seen this movie before. Not ``Bend It Like Beckham,'' of course, but the movie in which an aging soccer star relocates to America and tries to help the game take flight. Just because that one ended badly, all the soccer-haters want to believe this one will, too. Remember: 31-year-old David Beckham barely was born when the central events depicted in ...

David Beckham alone won't transform soccer in the United States. It will take an influx of other European stars to make a real impact. That's the view of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, one of the most successful coaches in the English Premier League. Beckham agreed to the biggest deal in soccer history Thursday and will join the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer after his current contract with Spanish ...

Alex Ferguson has named five ``world class'' players he coached during his 20 years at Manchester United and David Beckham wasn't among them. Asked for the list for a club history published this week, Ferguson came up with goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, winger Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona, Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane. While he added that current winger Cristiano Ronaldo has the potential to join the list and that Paul Scholes ...

Bring back Beckham! England's 0-0 draw at home against modest Macedonia showed that coach Steve McClaren was too hasty in dumping the former captain whose expertly hit free kick took England to the World Cup quarter-finals _ only to be told he was no longer in the new coach's plans. Beckham's World Cup goal against Ecuador turned out to be his last in 94 games. He sat in tears after ...