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A British perspective of soccer sports writing

One of the best things about David Beckham playing in the MLS is that each match is getting write-ups in British newspapers. That's a lot more attention the league could never have gotten, and it seems that the level of play seems to go up when Beckham plays. Witness last night's 5-4 victory by the New York Red Bulls over the Los Angeles Galaxy. I was not able to watch it live, thanks to it being on Fox Soccer Channel, but it was a lot of fun to watch the highlights this morning.

But, check out this paragraph from Times Online

The first goal came from an in-swinging Beckham corner kick, which Pavon met at the near post with a header that beat Red Bulls goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus and slipped inside the far post. Beckham’s left ankle continued to bother him but, despite his obvious discomfort, he picked out Pavon again with a 30-yard free kick and another crisply-despatched header put Galaxy ahead. Suddenly, they had the initiative and the interplay between Beckham and Landon Donovan became pivotal, for when they combined intelligently and incisively the visitors were at their most effective.


Somehow I can imagine George Plimpton reading that aloud somewhere.

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