Goal! 2 Clip
The Guardian have a summary of reactions from within Real Madrid to David Beckham's sending off, in addition to those listed Miguel Torres also told the Real Madrid website that he did not think Becks deserved to be sent off. Also the player who was fouled, Isidoro, said that if the foul was intentional, David Beckham deserved to get sent off but, if he was going for the ball, then it was a little harsh. In action replays David Beckham does appear to almost make contact with the ball but misjudges it, view the incident here. This, coupled with his track record of sporting behaviour, leads me to personally believe that he was going for the ball, but I leave it to you to form your own opinion. There is a poll on Marca asking whether Real Madrid should appeal, more than 5000 have voted and so far 58% have voted si! You can vote here.
Sid Lowe in The Telegraph is scathing in his criticism of the tackle but does concede that it would probably have only drawn a yellow card in the Premiership League. He also singles out David Beckham as the only Real Madrid player who performed well.
Results in La Liga over the weekend, which saw Valencia beat Barcelona and Sevilla also take 3 points have Real Madrid and Valencia both on 42 points in the table, four points shy of the leaders. So Real Madrid are still in the hunt and perhaps despite all the ups and downs Becks can still exit on a high as he hopes to do!
Here's a short clip from the movie Goal! 2 - Living the Dream which is currently showing in the UK and will be released in other European cities in coming months. The clip features a training session at Real Madrid from the film and a few glimpses of Becks and some of his team mates. Click here. The player will open within a frame so give it a second to load. The clip uses DivX if you don't have a player the site will let you download one, sorry to put you to any trouble as Becks is only in the clip fleetingly but I tried loading the clip into You Tube and it pixelated so badly it wasn't worth watching, so I'm afraid this was best option. Hope you have a good week.
I have added some more photos from the game to the the gallery
Finally we have the story you have when you're not having a story, unless the story is true... but it seems unlikely. Firstly the Sunday Mirror reported that Steve McClaren was undertaking a quick phone poll of the senior members of the England squad to guage their reaction to a possible David Beckham recall. Then within a couple of hours The FA put out an official statement refuting the report and catergorically denying it. So that seemed to be that, but now in yet another plot twist (who needs Days of our Lives) The Sun is reporting that McClaren requested a video tape of David Beckham's last game so that he could assess his form. It is less than a week since the more reputable and reliable Telegraph quoted McClaren, who they interviewed, as stressing he had no plans to watch David Beckham... so I'm still leaning towards the "non-story" view but it's possible that McClaren realising that the tide of public opinion has turned substantially in Becks favour, has decided that appearing to have an open mind is necessary... if he does in fact watch the tape he will see Becks put in a very good performance.
posted by rpm at 8:09 PM
7 Comments:
In the Premiership League, yup the foul would just be a yellow card, (in some cases just a foul :)) The crowds applaud Beckham because he is one of the few who seem to have heart to make Real Madrid win, some players just seem to go through the motions. On a side note Ronaldo scored 2 goals for Milan.
Marie
11:49 PM
wow good 4 ronaldo.... i bet capello is regretting letting him go
12:49 AM
I agree is only a yellow, it actually looks really bad but when you freeze frame it you can see he lunges for the ball, so as Isidoro himself said, its harsh.
2:25 AM
The rumors about a Becks recall are increasing... be so great if it was true as he would be so happy!
5:27 AM
Marie,
Good point about Premiership. I watch a "round-up" show of matches every night, and on Saturday I couldn't help laughing at how many tackles in Premiership games were much worse and never got a glance from the ref (and I only saw snippets).
I agree with you, yellow or foul. Becks clearly had his eye directly on ball and I don't know where Sid Lowe saw "scissors." He went in with one leg, both cleats away from other man. Definitely desperate try to get ball back for last hope. Maybe not brilliant football, would have known ball was too far away, but I think well played given circumstances and team and fan morale. Yes, heart--not malice. Also classy for Isidoro to comment.
p.s. Seeing the FA disclaimers re McClaren polling of England team leaders, all I could think was why are they protesting so much about a "non-story"? And why would it bother them that McClaren discussed ANY topic with squad leaders? Who cares? Strange people.
6:36 AM
Sorry for subjecting you all too Sids comments I didn't agree with some of his observations but I thought it was interesting that someone who is most certainly not a fan would at least admit in the premiership it would be a yellow card just because most of us see more epl football and that is our actual frame of reference.
Diane,
I don't know why The FA responds - maybe that means it is true lol The Mirror is always putting out "exclusives" that are completely false and The Sun is better than the Mirror but they get a certain amount wrong too so if the FA didn't comment and nothing happened the stories would just drift away as the false ones about Becks usually do. Unless... oh well we'll have to wait and see what happens in the next installment :)
7:46 AM
Hi Anna,
Sounds like FA is taking a position on whether Becks plays or not--didn't know they had one or that it was their job. Thought they were now in charge of checking whether kissing is included in goal celebrations -- certainly seems like FA are NO FUN at all!
I like reading Sid Lowe re Spain. I think he is a closet Becks fan who tries to sound "objective." ;)
Can't send enough thanks for all the resources.
D
8:39 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home