Season is over for Becks

CHICAGO: David Beckham and the LA Galaxy were knocked out of playoff contention on Sunday when the Galaxy fell 1-0 to the Chicago Fire on the final day of Major League Soccer’s regular season.

The Galaxy, who had mounted a six-game unbeaten streak to keep their playoff hopes alive, needed a victory in order to advance to the eight-team championship playoffs of the 13-team league.

The Fire only needed a draw but managed to go one better with a 90th-minute goal to claim the last playoff spot, leaving English midfielder Beckham to lament the club’s early season struggles before his July arrival.

“We’ve had a good run, but obviously early season form is what has affected us more than anything,” Beckham said after the game. “We have to win games throughout the season instead of relying on the last five or six games to come back into it. But we’ve ended the season sort of on a high and we have to be positive about next season.” – AFP

Arsenal manager tells his young team not to be cocky

LONDON: Arsene Wenger has told his Arsenal players they can effectively clinch their place in the Champions League knockout stages as long as they don’t get over-confident against Slavia Prague today.

Wenger’s side have won their opening two Group H matches and another three points at the Emirates would leave them within touching distance of the second round.

After surging to the top of the Premier League and their European group during an 11-match winning run, Arsenal are heavily favoured to beat the Czech League leaders.

It would be easy for Arsenal’s talented young side to think they have to do little more than turn up to secure another win. So while Wenger paid lip service to Slavia’s ability to trouble his team, the Gunners manager believes the biggest obstacle to overcome is complacency.

“If we win tomorrow 90% of the work is done. It is a good mental test because we will see how we cope when we are favourites,” Wenger said.

“Sometimes the games that look easy at the start turn out to be the hardest. That is what we learned from last season. It is a tricky tie because you could think because we have beaten Sparta Prague we will beat Slavia Prague. We are the favourites but Champions League competition doesn’t work like that.

“We had problems to beat Steaua Bucharest. We had to dig very deep and they have beaten Steaua and scored two goals at Sevilla. If we are not focused we will have big problems with them.”

If Karel Jarolim’s side manage to keep Arsenal at bay early on, Wenger believes Theo Walcott has developed into the kind of impact player who can break the deadlock.

“I feel he has qualities that are very important for a striker,” Wenger said. “The timing of his movement is good, the quality of his movement is good.

“So overall I feel he has made good progress recently, even if at the start of the season he had to be a bit patient because it took him sometime to get back to his level. He has made more progress and moved forward.

“At his age you can only improve if you work in a dedicated way. He applies himself very well in training.

“Between 19 and 23 a striker moves forward. Look at how Robin van Persie arrived here and how he is today.”

While Arsenal are on their best winning run since 2002, Wenger believes there is still room for improvement.

He is impressed with the way they have cut the lapses in concentration that proved costly last season, but he wants his players to be more ruthless in front of goal.

“We still have to improve because I feel this team is 80% of its potential,” Wenger said.

“We are stronger because our team-work is better and we have learned from our mistakes. We conceded a lot of goals from counter-attacks and set-pieces.

“The challenge is to get the best out of them. That is down to humility, attitude and mental quality.” – AFP

Alonso: We blew it

MADRID: Fernando Alonso says McLaren would be celebrating a world championship victory instead of bemoaning a shock defeat had they used different tactics this season.

“McLaren got it wrong, they lost the championship for the mistaken decisions they made in the second part of the season,” the Spaniard told Radio station Cadena Ser yesterday. “It isn’t a secret that they haven’t helped me much. It wasn’t a very well organised season from the point of view of the management.”

“There was no sensation of being a team and the result speaks for itself. Each person will have to draw their own lessons from this season, but if we had taken a different approach we would have got different results.”

Alonso narrowly missed out on a third successive world title, finishing in third spot in the standings level on points with team-mate Lewis Hamilton and one behind winner Kimi Raikkonen.

Arriving from Renault as the man to restore McLaren’s fortunes after the Mercedes-powered team failed to win a race last year, Alonso has consistently complained that he did not receive the special treatment he warranted as a double world champion.

“What the boss said after China about the team racing against me and not Kimi was a clear declaration of intentions,” he said.

“In the last few races my hands and feet were tied. I had no power to make decisions. I had to race as they told me. McLaren lost and Ferrari did a better job than anyone else.”

Alonso added that he would be ashamed if McLaren’s appeal over alleged fuel irregularities by the BMW Sauber and Williams teams gifted the championship to Hamilton.

“Whoever gets the most points is the rightful champion. It would sink the sport if they won the title this way. I would be mortified if that happened.”

Alonso was tight-lipped about his plans for next season. Asked if his former team Renault were his number one choice if he were to leave McLaren he replied: “No, right now I’d say no.”

Although disappointed that Alonso had failed to win the title, Spanish media celebrated the fact that Hamilton had been deprived of the crown, saying that McLaren got their just deserts.

“McLaren gifted the championship to Kimi,” said sports daily AS. “The biggest embarrassment of the century,” said its rival Marca.

“The Ferrari family gave McLaren, that pretence of a team that was in reality a pack of egos united only by some stickers, a true lesson,” commented El Pais. – Reuters