Americans show their (lack of) appreciation for want-away star

New York Red Bulls 1/ LA Galaxy 3
When David Beckham first played at New York’s Giants Stadium in 2007, an impressive 66,237 soccerball lovers turned up to see what the fuss was all about. Two years on, and just 23,238 turned up at the huge arena to welcome the England star on his return to the MLS.

As expected, large portions of the dwindled home crowd booed the returning star (well, either that or they were saying “BOOOOECKHAM!” in some sort of bizarre New Jersey accent), and it is quite audible in the video above during his 70th minute substitution.

Aside from a couple of good long range goals and some piss poor defending MLS-style defending, our favourite part of this video is the commentator’s reaction to Landon Donovan’s strike - skip to [1.53] to hear a completely non ironic “EEAAAYYEEEEEESSSS!”

[Video: 101GG]

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Frenchman excluded from promotional duties

Yesterday, Spanish giants Barcelona unveiled their shiny new away kit, using fugly stars including Leo Messi and Carles ‘Captain Caveman’ Puyol.

Superstar players Deco, Eto’o and Ronaldinho were all absent from the launch, as they are fully expected to be plying their trade elsewhere in 2008/09. A semi-surprising absentee, however, was a certain Mr Thierry Henry.

So, if the Frenchman won’t be knocking about in Catalonia next season, where will he be? Well, yesterday he played in a charity match in Americaland, which also included Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and New York Red Bulls captain Claudio Reyna. Couple this with the fact that in 2007 he told the New York Times he would like to end his career in the Big Apple, and it looks like the striker could be following David Beckham across the Atlantic to play some Major League Soccerball pretty soon…

[Marca]