Kaka Transfer Rumors: Why the Real Madrid Star Will Not Join the Galaxy

Tomorrow is David Beckham's final match with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Customarily, there are already rumors questioning who his replacement will be.Over the past several months, the player who was popularly considered to be Beckham's replacement was Chelsea's Frank Lampard.The Lampard speculation will probably diminish with the release of an interview by Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl with AEG President Tim Leiweke, who suggests that Real Madrid star Kaká would replace Beckham.In the interview, Leiweke said:"We're well aware of Kaká's interest in MLS, and we in turn have made it very clear to him that he's aware of our interest in him. We have a great relationship with Real Madrid, and just as we worked through a player with them six years ago [Beckham], I'm absolutely convinced we could find the right deal this time, too."Kaká, who was the winner of FIFA's player of the year in 2007, has struggled at the Bernabéu since his then-record breaking transfer from AC Milan in 2009.He never was able to score at least 10 goals in a season with Madrid, and did not put in one season with at least 30 appearances in La Liga.Granted, this has primarily happened because ...

David Beckham Leaving LA Galaxy: Why His Time in MLS Has Been a Success

David Beckham announced today that the M.L.S. Cup on December 1 will be his final match with the Los Angeles Galaxy.Beckham, who competed for six years in Major League Soccer, leaves the Galaxy with a mixed record.The English star will be remembered for his failure to win a league he was expected to dominate in during his first four years in North America.The tension that he had with American star and Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan was detailed in Grant Wahl's book The Beckham Experiment and is still remembered by many.Others will contend that he never made soccer into the top sport in the United States.There is plenty of negativity that could be attributed to Beckham and soccer in M.L.S. Although that negativity is strong, David leaves America as one of the biggest success stories since the time of Pele and Beckenbauer.The arrival of Beckham was one of the biggest sports stories of 2007. Almost immediately, people stormed stadiums across Canada and the United States to watch him play.Beckham's influence was so strong that he brought the league their highest attendance numbers since 1996, the first year of M.L.S.' existence.Clubs like the New England Revolution and the New York Red Bulls ...

Tim Cahill Transfer Will Prove to Be a Bargain for the New York Red Bulls

Today, the New York Red Bulls completed a shocking £1 million deal to acquire Everton and Australian midfielder Tim Cahill.Cahill was one of the more notable names to play at Goodison Park in the Premier League era. Though he will leave Merseyside without any silverware, Cahill was still among the top midfielders in the EPL during his eight-year stint at Everton.In that stretch, Cahill played 278 times for Everton, scoring 68 goals. He also was a part of the Everton squad that reached the 2009 FA Cup final, where they lost to Chelsea 2-1.The capture of Cahill is certainly surprising, even though Everton are short on cash. But securing Cahill's signature is a coup for the Red Bulls.The Red Bulls, who already have designated players Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, will likely give Cahill their final DP spot. After he arrives following the MLS All-Star game, Cahill will give the Red Bulls an attacking threat in midfield, something that they have been sorely missing.Though Kenny Cooper and Henry have worked well together, both players have faced their droughts this season, which is partially at fault for a disappointing June. But now, with Cahill, he will replace Mehdi Ballouchy and bring ...

David Beckham Transfer Rumors Are Over, Becks Will Remain with the Galaxy

Throughout the last five years, David Beckham has been helping to build the brand that is Major League Soccer to both the United States and the world.After months of speculation, the English star is now set to stay in Los Angeles and finish his career there.Today, Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al Khelaifi said at the Qatar Open tennis tournament: “David Beckham is in Los Angeles. And he's going to stay there.”It was revealed this Christmas that Beckham and his family discussed the possible move to PSG and decided to accept a rolling contract that would allow the English star to continue playing with the club until he decides to retire.After Beckham won the MLS Cup, it was massively reported that Beckham would be joining PSG, with even more reports suggesting that he could join the club during the the tennis tournament that the PSG president is currently attending.PSG have been building themselves into a major football club during the last several months with Qatar Investment Authority deciding to buy 70 percent of PSG shares from then-owners Colony Capital last May.They had already signed some expensive players over the summer transfer window and had just made former AC Milan and Chelsea boss Carlo ...

MLS Transfer Possibilities: Tim Ream’s Best Move Is to Avoid the Premier League

Tim Ream has been one of the top emerging American internationals to play in Major League Soccer over the past two years.During those two years, Ream has continued to star for the Red Bulls. Ream was shortlisted as one of three potential rookie of the year candidates in 2010 and has played in 58 MLS matches in his two seasons.Ream has also been called up to the United States national team, participating in several friendlies and in the 2011 Gold Cup, where he registered two starts.Now Ream did have a disappointing 2011 campaign due in large part to multiple slip-ups in certain situations that cost both the national team and the Red Bulls in some major situations. But that has not stopped Ream from training with both West Bromwich Albion and Bolton this winter.In recent days, it has been rumored that Ream was going to leave for Bolton, with the Premier League side supposedly offering £3million for Ream to replace a potentially departing Gary Cahill.If this rumor were to be true, Ream would join fellow American international Stuart Holden at Bolton.But this isn't the only time that Ream has been linked to a major foreign side over the past several months. Ream was ...

MLS Playoffs: Why the Red Bulls Win Can Push New York to Its First MLS Cup

Last night, the New York Red Bulls defeated last year's MLS Cup runner-up FC Dallas 2-0 to advance into the next round of the MLS playoffs.The Red Bulls were able to put together a strong second half to win the match, with Joel Lindpere getting an early second half goal and Thierry Henry put the match away with a late stoppage time tally.With this win, the Red Bulls will now face the MLS Community Shield winner, the Los Angeles Galaxy.There are many people who didn't think the Red Bulls were going to advance into the playoffs just a week ago. The Red Bulls of course were barely able to reach the playoffs due to an important win over the Philadelphia Union in the last match of the regular season.But once they entered the playoffs, they immediately became a dark horse favorite by many to reach deep in the playoffs.Now that the Red Bulls have cleared their first hurdle, many fans and observers can now see the Red Bulls make a deep run or even win their first MLS Cup.The first step in that run will come in the form of the Galaxy. The Galaxy were the best side in MLS ...

MLS: Why Have the New York Red Bulls Been a Failure This Season?

Going into the 2011 season, hopes were high for the New York Red Bulls. After falling out in a shocking matter to the San Jose Earthquakes the year before in the playoffs, hopes were high that the team would perform well this season.For just over the first two months of the season, New York was the best side in the league and with the acquisition of Dwayne de Rosario, it looked like the Red Bulls were going to be a hard win for any side to defeat.However, once the weather started to heat up in Harrison, the Red Bulls became cold. Over a four-month stretch, the Red Bulls were only able to win three times while drawing 12 times.Due to their poor play, the Red Bulls found themselves on the outside looking in for the MLS playoffs.After a 1-0 win against FC Dallas last Saturday, the Red Bulls looked like they could take a giant step towards the playoffs in their home contest against Real Salt Lake.On a Wednesday night game that was going to be crucial for the Red Bulls, New York put together a microcosm of its season on display at Red Bull Arena.The Red Bulls lost 3-1 ...

New York Cosmos: Club’s Revival Will Make Them the 20th Club in MLS

Once the most popular soccer club in the world, the New York Cosmos have done a tremendous amount of work throughout the last year to resurrect a team that was once extinct.The Cosmos hard work included but was not limited to the following: getting a legendary Cosmo to become their honorary president, buy advertising space in Times Square, getting an office in SoHo Manhattan and the hiring of a new club director for soccer.But in June of this year, it was announced that the Cosmos would oppose Manchester United in the testimonial match for former United midfielder Paul Scholes on August 5 at Old Trafford.This match will be the first match for the Cosmos since 1985, and will contain a mix of stars from not only the Cosmos U-23 side, but also stars throughout the world.These stars include current players such as Brad Friedel, Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane alongside retired players including former Manchester United players Gary Neville and Dwight Yorke, plus recently retired players Fabio Cannavaro and Patrick Vieira.Of course money does play a big role in the decision to have the Cosmos appear at Scholes' testimonial match, but this money is going to further help the Cosmos ...

MLS Should Listen to Sir Alex and Create Multiple Divisions for Their League

For the second straight year, Manchester United are taking a preseason tour of North America. Their first match takes place tonight at Gillette Stadium against the New England Revolution.In a press conference a day before, the friendly, legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson discussed the current condition of soccer here in the United States.Fergie discussed how the league has grown in the past ten years since Man United took their first tour of the country as well as the ways the sport of soccer continues to evolve.However, Ferguson also gave Major League Soccer and its fans a massive nugget to feed on regarding the future of the league when he said, "you could have four leagues because of the size of the country and the population base."For those who don't understand exactly how MLS works: MLS is a soccer league that contains 18 clubs in the U.S. and in Canada and is a single table system. In the autumn, there is a playoff between the top eight clubs to determine the MLS Cup champion.However, as the league continues to grow in popularity, many fans want a table system put into place. As of yet, the MLS uses no table system ...

Thierry Henry Revival Is Key for Red Bulls in Their MLS Cup Quest

Following last year's World Cup, the New York Red Bulls made two massive acquisitions that helped to change the face of Major League Soccer.Those midsummer moves came in the form of the signing of Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry, both of whom played for Barcelona the season before and found themselves out of favor with Pep Guardiola.In the case of Marquez, he was able to recapture his prior success with the Red Bulls and never seemed to have any problems adapting to the style of MLS.But in Henry's case, he was unable to recapture his old form, scoring just two goals in 12 matches and was unable to score in the playoffs as the Red Bulls were knocked out by the San Jose Earthquakes.However, Henry's play started to be poor since the infamous hand ball against Ireland in the UEFA World Cup playoff, and continued on throughout the remainder of his season with Barcelona and for France in the World Cup.After last season, many people wondered if Henry had anything left in him and with players such as Juan Agudelo and Tm Ream around him, how well would he be able to produce for the Red Bulls in the 2011 season.During the ...