Senior Soccer Writer, Fox Sports
Senior soccer writer at Fox Sports and author of the forthcoming Love and Blood, at the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks
PROFILE
Jamie Trecker
Guest
FROM Jamie Trecker
To the Point
Match-fixing Scandal Shocks Soccer World When Real Salt Lake defeated the LA Galaxy this week in Major League Soccer, it was bigger news in Europe than in the US. But now soccer fans around the world are preoccupied with a scandal far from China, Hong Kong and Singapore, where soccer games have been contaminated by match-fixing. Seventeen people have been arrested and some 200 are said to be under investigation in several European countries. Jamie Trecker is senior soccer writer for Fox Sports and author of Love & Blood , about the 2006 World Cup.
To the Point
Iraqi Soccer Association Suspended Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish players overcame social odds to form the Iraqi national soccer team. Then they won an unlikely victory at the Asian Cup. But today their coach says they are "crushed" psychologically because they might not be allowed to compete in the Beijing Olympics in August or for the World Cup in 2010. The government of Iraq has disbanded its Olympic Committee, so the world governing body of soccer, in turn, has suspended Iraq's soccer team. We hear more from Stephen Farrell of the New York Times and Jamie Trecker of FoxSports.com .
To the Point
David Beckham's Star Power Shines on LA Galaxy David Beckham is in Los Angeles, preparing to earn his $6 million-a-year salary. The soccer icon is also a major celebrity, the husband of Posh Spice , a global marketing brand and a major investment by the LA Galaxy who will no doubt bring unprecedented buzz to the game of soccer. That buzz began long before Beckham's arrival yesterday to an enormous reception by the media. But are fans as excited as the paparazzi? Though enormously popular with this country's Latino population, and with suburban kids and their parents who gather on playing fields all over the US, soccer's never achieved the media status enjoyed by other sports. Will Beckham make a difference? We ask Jamie Trecker of FoxSports.com and Andrew Gumbel of London's Independent .
Which Way, L.A.?
David Beckham Comes to LA America's Major League Soccer is in the minor leagues worldwide, but David Beckham has now signed to play for the Galaxy , headquartered in Carson. The price tag is $250 million, and Major League Soccer officials claim Beckham will finally make their sport a national pastime. Beckham became a world celebrity playing football, as they call it--in Britain, where he made history with Manchester United , then spent a lot of time on the bench for the Spanish team Real Madrid . Does he still have the talent? Will he be just another Hollywood celebrity?
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