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David Beckham soccer news

American fans curious about David Beckham’s progress in MLS can get a real-time update at noon today when Beckham’s L.A. Galaxy plays D.C. United on ABC. The network coverage is the first for Beckham this season, at least on a soccer field, and it serves as ABC’s warmup act for the Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany.

Beckham figured to play in this European Championship for England, until the mother country was eliminated in qualifying by Croatia and Russia, two teams that have raised the quality of the tournament in ways England couldn’t. That Beckham didn’t go to Austria and Switzerland was just fine for the Galaxy and MLS.

With Beckham in midfield, the Galaxy leads Major League Soccer with 31 goals in 13 games. Beckham has four goals, one taken from midfield, and six assists, and the Galaxy has MLS’s two leading scorers in Landon Donovan (11 goals) and Edson Buddle (nine). The Galaxy is first in the Western Conference, and both Donovan and Buddle are on pace to set career scoring highs.

Most importantly, of course, is people are still coming to see Beckham in his second MLS season. The Galaxy drew 37,872 against San Jose in Oakland and has sold out MLS-owned stadiums in Dallas, Toronto and Denver. As of Thursday, 32,000 tickets were sold at RFK Stadium for today’s nationally televised match, which will probably have the highest viewing audience for any MLS game this season.

MLS is getting what it paid for from Beckham. How well the Galaxy and D.C. United compare to the Euro 2008 final that will follow at 2:30 is another matter. Beckham is good, but nothing he and MLS can do could possibly top this European Championship.

Aside from a few tepid opening games, Euro 2008 may be as lively and unpredictable as any tournament the continent has seen. Unlike the European domestic leagues in which the same handful of superclubs lord over the rest, Euro 2008 has been a much more democratic offering in which anything has seemed possible.

First-time semifinalist Turkey made the stunning climax its trademark, scoring three stoppage-time goals to salvage results, the most memorable coming in the quarterfinal defeat of Croatia. Beside the Turks, Euro 2008 also gave us the Netherlands’ glowing performances against France and Italy, the emergence of midfield creators Luka Modric for Croatia and Andrei Arshavin for Russia, and the further confirmation that Russia’s Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, can get any team to exceed all expectations.

And yet, after all that, Germany is in the final. It’s become a cliché in world soccer: Upstarts like Turkey and Croatia threaten the European soccer order, and in the end, the Germans play for the trophy. As former England striker Gary Lineker said famously, “Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win.”

Germany entered Euro 2008 as the favorite, and it’s favored to beat Spain today for no other reason than it is Germany. Spain has proven itself a worthy champion by surviving Italy in PKs in the quarterfinals and soundly beating Russia in the semis. In a tournament filled with surprises, Euro 2008 could still fall to the Spaniards.

Spain reached the final by playing an attractive and patient style that yielded a tournament-high 11 goals. Three-time Euro champion Germany recovered from an early trouncing by Croatia in the group phase to play the spoiler in 3-2 wins over Portugal and Turkey. Germany coach Joachim Loew said his team was “lucky” to have beaten Turkey. His team was also good enough to respond with a timely goal whenever it needed one.

Adrian Healey and Andy Gray will provide the call for ABC. Gray was bumped up to the Euro 2008 first team by ESPN mid-tournament, a move that has enlightened American viewers starved for world-class soccer commentary.

LDU Quito scored four first-half goals to beat Brazil’s Fluminense 4-2 in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores last Wednesday at the Casa Blanca. LDU’s Claudio Bieler scored 90 seconds into the match, and Joffre Guerron, Jairo Campos and Patricio Urrutia added goals before the break. Fluminense will host the second leg Wednesday at the Maracana. With a win, tie or one-goal loss, LDU would become the first Ecuadorean club to win the tournament….

Miami FC will play its first official match against an MLS side when it plays at FC Dallas on Tuesday in the U.S. Open Cup. Miami beat USL rival Atlanta 1-0 on a goal by Brazilian Alex Afonso to advance to the third-round match. Miami is unbeaten in its last nine matches.

Sarkozy apologizes about shooting incident

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has described a shooting incident that occurred during a public military demonstration in Carcassonne, southern France, as “profoundly unacceptable” and “deeply appalling,” according to official sources.

“He indicated that what he discovered over there was profoundly unacceptable,” French government spokesman Luc Chatel told a press briefing on Wednesday at the end of a cabinet meeting.

“First because it is hard to imagine that live bullets can be found in the gun of a soldier brought to carry out such a maneuver,” said spokesman.

“There are principles of education that require us not to direct a weapon at either the public or crowd… the president told ministers that it was a terrifying idea,” said Chatel who quoted the head of state as having described the whole saga as “very appalling.”

In addition, the head of state indicated that he “was fully aware of the decisions that had been proposed, namely the decision to resign by Chief of Staff of the land army, and that he found it rather healthy that the army chief was assuming the consequences of the tragedy,” according to Chatel.

French ground forces commander Gen. Bruno Cuche tendered his resignation Tuesday following the unfortunate incident that left scores of spectators nursing various degrees of injuries, some of them serious, according to hospital reports.

“It’s a very serious matter,” the president of the republic was quoted as saying, describing the events surrounding the tragedy “as a direct result of major malfunctions within the ground forces…”

“The head of state said that it was not unusual that the responsibility is not only limited to this unfortunate soldier who fired into the crowd,” said a senior cabinet minister who attended the meeting.

Further, the government spokesman told reporters that there was “absolutely no sense” of misunderstanding between the government and the army owing to the president’s restructuring and implementing far-reaching reform on the defense sector in line with the recently published White Paper.

“This reform has been welcomed, more than ever before, by the entire army and I think that our armed forces will appreciate the fact that the political wing of the government is fulfilling its responsibilities to the French people,” said Chatel.

Meanwhile, the Wednesday cabinet meeting appointed Gen. Elrick Irastorza, 57, to the position of the Chief of Staff of the Army.

As an experienced human resource manager, the appointment of Irastorza is coming at a critical moment when the government is planning to institute key reforms, not the least a significant personnel reduction, according to analysts.

John McCain will help to quit drugs

Appearing before Mexico’s drug-fighting Federal Police, John McCain promised Thursday that as president, he would quickly implement a U.S. aid package to give the officers more helicopters, technology and training.

Mr. McCain, visiting the federal force’s new command center as he concluded a three-day trip to Colombia and Mexico, paid his condolences to the hundreds of officers who have died in the drug fight since President Felipe Calderón took office 19 months ago.

Those deaths, Mr. McCain said, “will not be in vain.”

“I want to thank President Calderón and the people of Mexico for their efforts in making our relations better,” said Mr. McCain, who struggled to make himself heard as pounding rain thundered off the metal roof of the helicopter hangar where he spoke.

Mr. McCain expressed support for the Merida Initiative, the $1.4 billion anti-crime package Congress passed last week.

“I look forward to implementing the Merida Initiative, and to work together to stem the flow of drugs from Colombia through Mexico and into the United States of America.” he said.

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, and Mr. Calderón held a private meeting earlier in the day.

Mr. McCain’s support for comprehensive immigration reform has made him popular among ruling party officials here, along with his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. McCain’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama, has called for a renegotiation of the treaty.

On immigration, the Republic senator said he supported a temporary guest-worker program as a short-term solution, but only through the use of high-tech documents to prevent forgery. But he also reiterated his stance that the U.S.-Mexico border must be controlled before comprehensive immigration reform can be considered.

Angelina and Brad Pitt babes still being late

Are the Brangelina twins boys or girls? Will they be delivered naturally or by cesarean? We don’t know, but we have plenty of time to fixate before they arrive.

Angelina Jolie’s obstetrician, Michel Sussmann, held a five-minute news conference Wednesday in Nice, France, to announce that the birth could be “in the weeks to come.”

Apparently unaware that the stars are unmarried, the doctor said: “Mrs. Angelina Jolie and her husband, Mr. Brad Pitt, told me to tell you that she is doing absolutely fine.”

The doctor said she would remain in the seaside hospital until the babies are delivered.

“I can’t give you a date,” he said, adding that Jolie’s hospital visit was scheduled.

French medical secrecy laws are very strict, but Sussmann was able to say that four rooms and a pair of security guards had been set aside for the couple — debunking rumors that they had taken over the entire fifth floor.

The actors’ union and Broadway theater producers reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Wednesday, averting the possibility of a strike such as the one that shut down Broadway for almost three weeks in November.

The contract, which expires in September 2011, would increase the compensation package for actors by 11.25%

The contract must be reviewed by the Actors’ Equity Association’s governing body. If it is approved, it would be sent to members for a vote, which could take several weeks.

Putin ecologic problems to move an Olympic bobsleigh

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for the transfer of a proposed Olympic bobsleigh site over ecological concerns, Russian media reported.

The planned Sochi-2014 Winter Olympics venue, next to a mountain nature preserve above Russia’s summer resort city on the Black Sea, was criticized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) last month as “environmentally unfriendly”.

“I consider it necessary to move these venues to another site, as agreed with the International Olympic Committee,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian Olympic officials in Sochi, news agency RIA said.

In a nine-page summary of its April inspection, UNEP said Grushevy Ridge, where the bobsleigh course and competitors’ accommodation had been due to be built, is home to endangered flora and fauna.

As the official consultant to the International Olympic Committee for environmental protection up to and through the 2014 Olympic Games, UNEP visited Sochi’s proposed venue sites at the invitation of the Russian government.

A source close to the Russian government told Reuters: “They have taken the environmental concerns very seriously, including the U.N. report, particularly when it comes to Grushevy Ridge.”

Russian and international environmental organizations had also been calling for the bobsleigh site to be moved from Grushevy Ridge, and Greenpeace said it had proposed 16 alternative sites.

Greenpeace Russia hailed Thursday’s announcement.

“The environment of the Caucasus has taken the first Olympic victory,” Vera Bakasheva, Greenpeace Russia’s spokeswoman, said in a statement”.

“There is every hope that the Sochi games will for certain be ‘green’, as the Olympic charter calls for.”

The girlfriend of Bob Dylan publishes a book

It’s not easy living with having been the muse and lover of any great artist, let alone someone with demigod status like Bob Dylan.

But that’s the baggage that Suze Rotolo, who lived with Dylan in the 1960s and was a major influence in his early work, has been carrying for nearly half a century.

Now she has broken her silence with a book, “A Freewheelin’ Time - A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” published by Broadway Books, an imprint of Doubleday.

“He’s the elephant in the room of my life,” said Rotolo, now 64, as she discussed her book and her life over iced tea in a restaurant near the Greenwich Village loft where she lives with her family.

“I’m glad I came out,” said Rotolo, a soft spoken woman with an easy smile who works as a visual artist.

She unwittingly became an icon of the Sixties in 1963 when Columbia records chose a picture of her walking arm-in-arm with Dylan on a snowy Greenwich Village street for the cover of his groundbreaking second album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”

A nearly identical picture from the same publicity shoot graces the cover of her nearly 400-page memoir.

It tells the story of a shy young Italian-American girl from Queens who moved across the East River to Greenwich Village to find herself, and got caught up in the whirlwind of the early sixties folk music scene and civil rights movement.

“It felt good to tell these stories, to tell stories that my son can read and so people of other generations can know what that period was like. What I wanted to show is that we were all human, young, had fun and produced something.”

She met Dylan, who had moved to New York from Minnesota, at a concert in 1961 when she was 17 and he was 20. The two fell in love and became inseparable in the years when he underwent a transformation from folk singer to spokesman for a generation.

The book describes the creative crucible that Greenwich Village was at the time, with its music clubs and cafes serving as magnets for artists, musicians and poets seeking to breathe in a heady new air after the socially suffocating 1950s.

Rotolo and Dylan lived together in a two-room walk-up on West 4th Street and their love story and break-up inspired songs such as “Tomorrow Is a Long time,” “One Too Many Mornings,” “Don’t think Twice, It’s Alright,” and “Boots of Spanish Leather.”

The four-year relationship was at once tender and turbulent.

She was raised as a free thinker by working-class communist parents who suffered during the McCarthy era. He soaked up her political activism and social awareness, which found expression in some of Dylan’s early anti-war and anti-racism songs.

But the young Rotolo was no groupie or chick hanging on Dylan’s every word. She refused to be an appendage, or, as she puts it, “the seventh string on his guitar.”

As he became more famous by the day their relationship was tested. She left for six months in Italy — a separation that also figures in some of his early songs.

More strain befell the relationship when she became pregnant and they both agreed that she would have an abortion, which was both illegal and dangerous at the time.

Rotolo knew Dylan needed nurturing but she chafed at losing her own identity as he spiralled to fame and took on the status of an oracle who, as she put it, risked burning out in his own flame.

“I didn’t see the glory in it,” she said, shaking her head slowly to make a point. “I saw what it was like, sitting there and having everybody come to this guy. He was the honey pot. And I was supposed to sit there and smile? I just couldn’t do it.”

“Every little thing he said was bisected, dissected and looked at as a mysterious message from the gods. It was really difficult. I didn’t want that kind of light to shine on me because no matter what I would say or do would provoke this kind of reverence and I just found that very awkward,” she said.

Towards the end of their time together, Dylan began an affair with folk singer Joan Baez. Rotolo was devastated by his cheating, which she said left her lost with no-one to trust.

A very private person herself, she still respects Dylan’s privacy and the memoir is not by any means a “tell all” book.

“I could have been nasty,” she joked during the interview. “I could have evened scores. But why would I do that at my age?”

Rotolo’s memoir is not just about her relationship with Dylan. It is an entertaining roadmap of how Greenwich Village was in the early 1960s, written by a privileged participant-observer.

Legendary Village clubs and bars like Gerde’s Folk City, the Gaslight and the Kettle of Fish are as much a part of the book, as are singers like Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Eliot, Tiny Tim, Peter, Paul and Mary, and artists such as Andy Warhol.

Village streets with names like Bleecker, Cornelia, West Fourth and Mercer are incarnated, almost becoming characters in their own right that moulded a tightly-knit community of artists and musicians.

Set in the backdrop of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy assassination and the start of the Vietnam war, Rotolo writes of a generation on the cusp of change and rebellion.

It includes personal photos, parts of letters she and Dylan exchanged and her own notebook entries and illustrations from the period.

Rotolo does not look back in anger. She does not look back with nostalgia. She just looks back in a sometimes bittersweet way with the conviction, as she puts it, that life goes on for those who live in the present.

“I saw myself as part of this big important story. It’s not as if we were all acolytes around this god. We were all in the mix together and he became something. He was in the mix together in this circus and then he became the ringmaster,” she said.

Lindsay Lohan new life plans

Lindsay Lohan’s private life has gone through some rather public growing pains over the past few years. And now, newly 22 years of age, the only growing she wants to do in public is of the professional variety.

Speaking to E! News anchor Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show this morning, hours after her prom-themed birthday bash, Lohan discussed her plans for the year ahead which, she said, could be summed up in two words: “focusing and working.”

“I just wanna live a happy, healthy year, and continue on the path that I’ve been on. And, you know, be with the person that I care about, and my family, and I think that’s it.”

Not to mention spend a bit more time with a certain young, female musician.

Lily Allen, that is. (You were expecting someone else?)

“I know her, and she’s a very sweet girl,” Lohan said of the “Smile” singer.

Of the rumors that she and Allen may team up to record a duet together, Lohan said it wasn’t true…at least, not at the moment.

“We haven’t discussed that, but that would actually be really fun…I would love to!”

For now, Lohan is sticking with her solo effort, which will include the already released Ne-Yo-produced single “Bossy.”

“They released it to see what people’s reactions [would be]. We didn’t really promote it or anything. We just wanted to release it.”

The response was apparently good enough to move ahead with plans for an album, which Lohan promises will be a whole new sound.

“I’m going into the studio for real in August, but I’m still waiting on tracks. I’m very picky…My last record, I didn’t really promote it or anything, I kinda just did it. I’d like to really do something different with this one.

“And it’s a different style of music for me. It’s more urban and dance, you know. It’s more Rihanna-esque, which I haven’t really ever done. Tapping into a new vibe. So I really wanna be careful about what I do.”

In the meantime, Lohan has been working on her day job, acting in the new comedy Labor Pains. Lohan said it will come out “hopefully before 2009.”

Eminem duet at the Grammy’s

Rapper Eminem will perform a duet with Barney the Purple Dinosaur at next year’s Grammy Awards, recording industry sources revealed today. Producers of next year’s telecast indicated that the rapper and the dinosaur would most likely join forces on Barney’s hit song, “I Love You, You Love Me.”

Children’s advocacy groups immediately blasted Eminem for agreeing to share the stage with the controversial dinosaur, whose odious, insipid songs are anathema to parents across the country, especially those who have to take long car trips with small children.

“By singing a duet with Barney, Eminem is sending a message to kids everywhere that he approves of Barney’s so-called ‘music,’ ” said Karen Curland of the Children’s Music Advocacy Project, one of the most virulently anti-Barney groups in the country. “This can only result in more and more kids singing along with Barney at the top of their lungs while their parents are trying to find a parking space at the mall.”

Recording-industry insiders speculated about Eminem’s motives for performing a duet with the embattled dinosaur, with many pointing a finger at the same culprit: demographics. “Eminem’s fans are 12 or 13 years old-in other words, aging,” said Dick Pelson, an A&R executive at Mercury Records. “Appearing onstage with Barney gives him instant credibility with 1- and 2-year-olds.”

Amid the gathering storm, Recording Academy President Michael Greene made an impassioned plea for tolerance.

“Barney’s songs may be more skin-crawling than nails on a chalkboard, or rubbing two balloons together,” Greene said. “And yet, our parents said the same thing about the singing of Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane. We may not like what Barney the Purple Dinosaur has to say-but to ignore his message would be folly.”

Amy Winehouse arrested

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse has reportedly been put under 24-hour surveillance in a bid to keep her away from any dealers and drug-taking pals.

The Rehab hitmaker was discharged from a London clinic on Monday after collapsing at her home earlier last month. She was subsequently diagnosed with traces of potentially deadly lung disease emphysema.

And, in a desperate attempt to keep her clean of drugs, executives at her music label Island Records have allegedly put her under the watchful eye of a full-time security guard.

A source says, “Effectively, Amy’s been put under house arrest. She is being monitored by 24/7 surveillance to make sure she’s behaving herself and keeping out of harm’s way.

“There is also a security guard stationed outside her house around the clock to vet any undesirables. From now on, there’ll be no more waifs and strays (random people) coming into her place, wreaking havoc.

“Crucially, they don’t want known drug dealers coming anywhere near her. Amy has to give them names of people expected. Anyone who turns up uninvited will be sent packing. It’s for her own good.”

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon honeymoon in Hawaii

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s marriage is reportedly on the rocks.The couple - who tied the knot two months ago following a whirlwind six-month romance - are said to already be arguing about Mariah’s demanding behaviour.

A source said: “Nick is basically around to attend to her diva-ish ways. When they were in Hawaii where Mariah was filming the video for I’ll Be Lovin’ U, Nick dashed off to buy her gifts at Tiffany and Co and Louis Vuitton to keep her happy.”

When 39-year-old Mariah injured herself during the shoot, Nick was right by her side.

The source added to America’s OK! magazine: “He helped Mariah out of the pool. She looked like she was going to cry.”

Mariah is also reportedly taking control of 27-year-old Nick’s career, and is keen to promote his musical ability with high-profile performances.

An insider said: “Nick had signed on to perform at a sweet-sixteen party before he and Mariah got married. But now Mariah needs to oversee and approve his career moves.

“There are no more silly small-time gigs. She wants him to do big venues and projects. She definitely wears the pants in the relationship.”