The Galaxy could actually be better in 2010 than what they were in 2009. (Getty Images)

We’re a little over half way home in our look at each Major League Soccer club this winter. So far we’ve hammered out Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Philadelphia in out preseason look ins.

So far this winter the LA Galaxy have had a similar offseason that we expected them to have. David Beckham went to Italy to be with AC Milan and Landon Donovan went to England to play for Everton until March. We knew going into the winter months that those things would happen. Unlike last year when there was a lot of bad press about loan moves for Beckham, this year was a little smoother for the two sides.

Aside from that Bruce Arena has made a couple moves since then and even with one draft pick back in January at the SuperDraft he came away with a solid draft grade by me and most people.

Let’s see how the Galaxy are looking right now and what else they need to do to their roster before the season kicks off.

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David Beckham will be a club owner in the near future. (Getty Images)

While we don’t know where the location of the 20th Major League Soccer club will eventually be we do have a pretty good idea of who the owner of the club will be. It’s been reported nearly everywhere that David Beckham has an option in his mega-MLS contract that stipulates he can own a club once he is done playing in the league.

So in 2012 when his contract is up he will likely stay in the league as an owner.

“We’ve got options of which team [to buy],” said MLS commissioner Don Garber, declining to name them or potential cities. “It will happen eventually, yeah.”

Beckham’s option starts with the 20th MLS club according to Garber but that won’t come until at least 2012. With Montreal set to be number 19 you have ti figure the list of potential cities for a Beckham owned team is pretty short. I don’t see Beckham taking over an existing club at the moment and relocating it. Expansion seems to be the way the league wants this deal to work out so more than likely the city has to be big. More than likely it will have to be a New York if it is an expansion team.

From what a few folks are saying this morning like Steve Goff, some former expansion sites like St. Louis and Miami are out of the question right now. Goff said there just isn’t the right money involved in those areas to be considered a strong candidate at the moment.

I know the league does need to be in the Southeast at some point but I just think a Beckham-owned team is better suited for New York here.

Beckham looks to be on the move again this winter. (R. Epperley for WVHooligan.com)

Looks like David Beckham will be back in Italy this winter as ESPNSoccernet is reporting today that a loan deal between AC Milan and the LA Galaxy is nearly a done deal.

Negotiations have been going on for some weeks and on Wednesday night Beckham intimated that they were 95% done, although the Milan chief has now confirmed the move.

“David Beckham’s return on loan in January is already a done deal,” Galliani told Sky Sport Italia.

Should everything work out smoothly he will be able to join the club for a big away game on January 10th against Juventus.

Hopefully unlike last year this loan deal goes a little smoother for the two sides and for Beckham. I’m curious to see if it will be just last this year’s deal where Beckham will re-join the Galaxy in the middle of the summer, presumably after the World Cup.

It has been quite a full day for some, others are left catching up on all the twitter messages that were lost today. There are plenty of good links to discuss so let’s not waste any more time with the formalities.

First up is the lovely discussion that will be on going for the next 20 or 30 years with Major League Soccer. Yes I am actually talking about Promotion and Relegation system with the league. I bring it up since Don Garber was wise (sarcasm intended) to mention today out in London that he hopes to see that kind of system introduced to MLS down the line.

Thankfully Garber did say that the league is far too young and doesn’t nearly have the money to do such a thing at this time. So we’d have to imagine that we are at least 20 years away from such a thing. Maybe by then I’ll have a different opinion on doing it here.

Most of you know I’ve always been in the boat that it is a system that will never work here. Basically it is one of those things that if the timing is right, along with many other factors (including money) that it could work here.

I just don’t see this as something that Garber or the league is actually willing to try anytime soon though. But I do believe that this will only get the debate going that much more with those out there that believe it will work here in the States with MLS. To this day I have still yet to hear a good enough reason why the league needs to eventually switch to that kind of a system. Continue Reading…

It’s been a fairly busy day around these parts. From catching up to things, to getting back to the daily grind at my normal job, and to getting back to work on things with this site. I wanted to kick off with a couple items that a few of your have emailed me and commented on recently here. Its mostly end of year items and seeing how we are towards the end of the season it is fitting to revisit some of these things.

First up, the coaching hot seat update.

Basically nothing has changed in my mind since my last update. I do think that Chris Cummins stands the best chance to keep his job if his club reaches the playoffs. Without a playoff trip he will easily join Tom Soehn and Jason Kreis in the pink slip line.

My big question is however if Tom Soehn does get fired by DC United this off season, how long will it take them to get former United star Richie Williams as their new coach? Believe me that would be a great hire for them and for Williams. I know he is currently the interim manager at New York right now but we all know they are looking for a bigger name to help open that new stadium next year.

I really do believe the likely candidates for firing are Soehn and Kreis here. Both had clubs with very high expectations this year and each have under delivered on those expectations. Soehn did have a rough schedule with a load of extra games but that won’t be good enough in DC. As for Kreis I think it comes down to management seeing if he has taken this club as far as he can, which the answer is yes. I just don’t see RSL going any further than a below average club each year under Kreis.

Also, don’t sleep on someone like Denis Hamlett getting canned at the end of this year as well. His Fire have massively under produced this year based on the very high expectations placed on them. I know they are close to clinching but they haven’t exactly lit the league up this year like most thought.

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As the playoff race has heated up in Major League Soccer, so have the goals that have been scored. This week we saw plenty of good goals but only a select amount were above the rest.

The best goal for me was either Sainey Nyassi’s run against New York or Brad Davis’ strike against RSL.

(Note QuickKicks on the league site did not have the Columbus/Chicago goals)

Order of video: David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Yura Movsisyan, Brad Davis, Dax McCarty, Jimmy Conrad, Sainey Nyassi, and John Wolyneic.

Not too many goals to pick from this week with all the 1-0 games we saw. So this week all the goals are included in the list.

My favorites were Beckham’s and Richards. What did you all like?

Order of goals: Dane Richards, Julien Baudet, David Beckham, Pablo Campos, Bryan Namoff, Steve Ralston, Wells Thompson, Ramon Sanchez, Pablo Campos (Chivas game), Fabian Espindola, and Robbie Findley (1 and 2).