Soccer Players

It's a feud that has a hint of Shaq and Kobe to it. Galaxy forward Landon Donovan rekindled images of that squabble when he blasted teammate David Beckham in Grant Wahl's upcoming book, "The Beckham Experiment," scheduled for a July 14 release.

Apparently that tired, worried, cranky old beast called America still can cook up a story line of dreamy nonfiction, for it's just bloody hard to choose the best part of finding Jozy Altidore in this nook of eastern England commonly called "Hull." Maybe the best part would be that scene from Sept. 19, when the Hull City starting 11 strode out and lined up in their tiger orange to play Birmingham in the world's biggest sports league, and a cheer went up in a soccer-soaked household across the Atlantic in Boca Raton.

David Beckham will return to the Galaxy in March unless AC Milan makes an offer for the English midfielder that is substantially higher than the one currently on the table. Showing a sudden ability to play hardball when needed, AEG, which owns the Galaxy, said Friday that the Italian club, a three-time world champion and seven-time European champion, had little time left to make up its mind.

Somewhere in the heart of northeastern Brazil, about nine degrees south of the Equator and a couple of hundred miles inland from where the Brazilian coast bulges out into the Atlantic, two rivers converge. There, painted in pastel hues, is the clapboard town of Dois Riachos, little more than a dot on the map in the huge cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco producing state of Alagoas. Flash past on Brazil's route 316, perhaps on the way to Maceio and the sea, and you would hardly notice it.

It won't show up in the NBA statistics, but that was some steal Kobe Bryant made Thursday. On an afternoon when Brazil's Marta, the top women's soccer player on the planet, was being introduced by the Los Angeles Sol in Carson, Bryant flew in by helicopter after Lakers practice and walked off with the show. By the time he left the Home Depot Center, he had the Sol players giggling like star-struck teenagers, all eager to be photographed alongside him. Naturally, Bryant obliged.

It was somewhere in Texas that the guagua broke down, the bus giving up the ghost on the outskirts of San Antonio. For Jose Manuel Miranda, Yenier Bermudez and Yordany Alvarez, it was just another incident in their surreal journey toward freedom. The three were among seven Cuban soccer players who defected to the U.S. in Tampa, Fla., last month during regional qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. Their hope was to establish a career in Major League Soccer.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco faced Chivas USA for the first time Sept. 29, wearing the Chicago Fire jersey. For fans who knew Blanco when he wore the Club America colors, and was a leading player battling Chivas of Guadalajara in Mexico's top league, this was not just any game. Thousands of America jerseys stormed the Home Depot Center to see the former Club America star. In the 34th minute of a scoreless game, Blanco was fouled on the edge of the Chivas USA area.

Briana Scurry has been playing soccer long enough to know that anything can happen. So rather than vent her anger at being left off the U.S. roster for the Beijing Olympics, the veteran goalkeeper is going to China as an alternate, staying in peak condition and making sure she is ready if called upon. "I'm definitely disappointed," Scurry said of not making the final squad of 18. "I feel I came into this year and worked really hard and was in some of the best shape I've been in.

BEIJING -- The "clutch player" has always held a special place in the hearts of sports fans: Reggie Jackson, Jerry West, Tiger Woods. Then there is "A-Rod" -- no, not Alex Rodriguez. This one is USC's Amy Rodriguez, newly minted member of the U.S. women's soccer team. She is called clutch because of her knack for game-winning goals, but you wouldn't know it by talking to her. "I've never really heard the clutch player thing until just recently," Rodriguez said.

Olympic gold medalists Shannon Boxx, Aly Wagner and Stephanie Cox on Tuesday were allocated to the Los Angeles team that will begin play next spring in the new women's professional soccer league. The as-yet-unnamed team, operated by Galaxy owner AEG, will play at the Home Depot Center beginning in April. In a ceremony at the Sports Museum of America in New York on Tuesday, 21 members of the U.S.