Mad Brit Diary

Beckham abuse demonstrates nasty nature of European soccer.

(Tuesday, October 14, 2003) -- It's all becoming a little too sickening, even boring. David Beckham slips, lands on his butt and sends a penalty kick high into the stratosphere. The mistake happens in the crucial Euro 2004 game at Turkey. Imagine how it feels?

Then it gets worse. An opposition player comes over and taunts him in his face, you know, "Let's just pour a little vinegar on that nasty open wound there, Becks.". It's not enough for the world's famous player to embarrass himself, some jerk has to come over and rub it in his face. The offending player -- Turkish defender Ozalan Alpay -- should be ashamed of himself. What kind of lesson is he sending to the youth of the world. Please Alpay, grow up or get out of the game.

Another spoiled high-paid soccer player makes a mockery of himself. The Mad Brit wonders what ever happened to restraint? What happened to fair play? Why has such nastiness crept into the game? Why such tantrums and immaturity from well paid sports figures? Why such actions that can have deadly repercussions off the field and in the stands? Alpay should be taken to the woodshed by UEFA and face suspension.

But has UEFA, Europe's governing body, the guts to do it? The situation grew worse. On the way to the dressing room after the first half, Alpay, the Aston Villa defender, poked Beckham in the face -- it's all on the video tape folks -- which set off a commotion in the tunnel. Boys will be boys.

The irony is Alpay won a special Fair Play award in Euro 96 for his decision of not to react with a foul on Croatian player Goran Vlaovic. However, during Euro 2000 he received a red card during Turkey's opening match against finalist Italy. Sadly, Alpay, who can be a talented defender when he wants to, never learns. He's a pariah at Villa, where even the home fans boo him.

It's been refreshing recently watching a number of games at the Women's World Cup in the United States. One has to be impressed at how the ladies conduct themselves in games that have been extremely physical. And your kids can watch this soccer without having to ad-lib all the foul language.

As for Beckham, the taunts on the English captain can only make him a better player down the road. Remember steel is forged in fire.

Did you know that a cancellation bond was recently launched for $260 million for the 2006 World Cup in Germany? This transfers the risk of the World Cup being cancelled to the capital markets. The bond does not go into effect if there is a World War or a major boycott of the finals.

Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia have all submitted bids last week to host the 2010 World Cup in Africa.

Three club officials from Israel's top soccer team, Maccabi Haifa, were injured in the suicide bombing in a restaurant in Haifa, Israel, last week. Haifa head coach Roni Levy, general manager Itamar Chizik, and technical manager Arye Borstein, were all wounded in the blast which killed 19 people. The popular restaurant is a regular meeting place for the Haifa team members.

Beckham also said he would like to start a soccer school in the U.S.

Landon Donovan was named the first back-to-back winner of the Honda "Player of the Year" Award, given annually to the best player on the U.S. team as chosen by the media. He joins Eric Wynalda (1992 and 1996) as the only other player to win the award more than once.

Mark Madden, a sportswriter with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, was raving mad this week and maybe just a bit too harsh. Said Madden: "I get livid when Mia Hamm is referred to as the "all-time leading international scorer for men's and women's soccer. The two games are unrelated. Pele, Hamm ain't. To compare Hamm to the retired Brazilian legend is a gratuitous insult to the sport itself. And if you gave him a sex change and U.S. citizenship, Pele would have found a way to score Sunday against Germany. Unlike Hamm, Pele saved his best for big games."

Ouch!

Here is the Women's World Cup All-Star team elected this week by FIFA's technical committee:

Goalkeeper: Silke Rottenberg (Germany).
Defenders: Charmaine Hooper (Canada), Liping Wang (China), Sandra Minnert (Germany), Joy Fawcett (United States).
Midfielders: Bettina Wiegmann (Germany), Maren Meinert (Germany), Malin Mostroem (Sweden), Shannon Boxx (United States).
Forwards: Birgit Prinz (Germany), Victoria Svensson (Sweden).
Substitutes: Goalkeeper - Caroline Joensson (Sweden); Midfielders - Marta (Brazil), Solveig Gulbrandsen (Norway); Forwards - Dagney Mellgren (Norway), Mia Hamm (United States).

Carlos Eduarte says: "Hi, Mad Brit. Regarding your comment about the lack of gamesmanship between the men's and women's game, I couldn't agree with you more. The women's game may lack the pace, skills and athleticism (of the men) but it has not been spoiled yet by the theatrics and histrionics exhibited by the men. I also must note how much better the quality of the game is than a mere four years ago. I certainly hope that soccer evolution does not imply that women will master the cynical diving, shirt tugging, complaining, fighting, spitting and whatever else you can think of that has become so obligatory in men's top-flight football.

Jason Tingle says: "Just wanted to make sure all the David Beckham naysayers were fully aware of how well he's been playing. You clowns wouldn't know a talented player if you saw one. Apparently, you all were listening to the idiot football pundits and never bothered to watch him play. I am ecstatic Beckham has continued to show his true footballing worth and I'm glad he's making you all eat crow! He's done exactly what I thought he would do, persevered in a difficult situation and come out stronger and better for it."

Josh Harper writes: "Last night, I decided to watch part of the USA\Norway (Women's World Cup) game to see what the level of play was like. Both teams looked respectable, but the 20-odd minutes I saw showed, what I would term, "gross errors" by the head official. These did not seem like run-of-the-mill errors that could go either way, but some pretty obvious mistakes that a top referee should have no trouble discerning. The first took place just to the left of Norway's keeper as Cindy Parlow decided her foot belonged at face-level for a ball she had no position for. I'm all for spectacular bicycle kicks in the box, but this wasn't one and there were at least four other players in close proximity. How Parlow didn't receive a yellow card for dangerous play as the Norwegian defender lay on the ground with blood running from her mouth I'll never know? For that, the referee deserved a yellow card.

The second blunder came when the referee issued a yellow card and granted a penalty kick when the Norwegian keeper took the legs out from under Abby Wambach as she tried to run onto a fast-moving ball. I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt to the offensive player, but there was absolutely NO WAY Wambach was going to get another touch on the ball as she skied it out of play. This was a case where the referee should have realized that while Wambach was in on the keeper, it really wasn't a scoring opportunity in that Wambach didn't have control of the ball. That series of calls warranted a second yellow (equaling a red) and the referee should have been issued her walking papers. It was the first time I ever hoped the U.S. (men or women) would miss a penalty kick. With the ball firmly in the keeper's hands, I turned the game off.

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