Randy Kim Posts

It seemed to be a long shot that he would actually miss the match, but L.A. Galaxy star David Beckham has confirmed that, despite lingering injuries, he will play in Sunday's MLS Cup against Real Salt Lake.

Beckham was recently photographed wearing a protective boot while playing American football in the park with his children. The images sparked a bit of concern over whether he'd be healthy enough to play Sunday, but upon arriving in Seattle (seen above) for the MLS Cup, Beckham spoke to the Telegraph UK and said that he was going to play through some lingering injuries.

Days before David Beckham and the L.A. Galaxy are scheduled to take the pitch against Real Salt Lake in MLS Cup 2009, it appears the British star is taking precautions to address a foot injury.

As seen above, TMZ snapped some photos of Beckham while playing football with his kids on Wednesday. In the photos he is wearing a protective boot.

Yet although he's wearing the boot, it appears that Beckham will play in Sunday's championship.

(Update: The match ended in a 1-1 draw, meaning France advances on 2-1 goal aggregate.)

The roles are vastly different. France is the established powerhouse, while Ireland is the feisty underdog. But both countries will be fighting for their World Cup lives Wednesday.

Ireland fell to France at home, 1-0, in the first leg of the home-and-home World Cup qualifier. Now Ireland faces the extremely difficult task of earning a spot in South Africa in a hostile setting against the 1998 World Cup champions (and 2006 finalists). Even more daunting is the fact that Ireland has never won on French soil in four attempts.

The match should be a hard-fought contest, regardless, and our cousins at FanHouse UK will be covering the action live. The qualifier starts at 3 PM ET, but J.P. Shaw and the FanHouse UK guys are chatting live now about all of the day's action. Hit the jump to join in, and be sure to check out FanHouse UK for the latest news and analysis from across the pond.

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He didn't net the game-winner, and he didn't even manage to play all 90 minutes, but global icon David Beckham still played a starring role in the Los Angeles Galaxy's 1-0 win over crosstown rivals Chivas USA on Sunday. With the victory, the Galaxy is now through to the Western Conference finals of the MLS Playoffs, keeping the team's championship hopes alive.

Beckham played with an assertive edge on offense for much of the match, showing his usual gift for fluid distribution and deft passing. The 34-year-old English national even came close to scoring in the first half on a solid strike from the top of the box that skipped just high of the crossbar.

Ross Rebagliati, the Olympic snowboarder who was famously (albeit briefly) stripped of a gold medal in 1998 after testing positive for marijuana, has found a new kind of slippery slope to navigate. Rebagliati recently announced that he will be running for political office in Canada.

Rebagliati, 38, is seeking the liberal party nomination in the British Columbia "riding" (the equivalent of an electoral district) of Okanagan-Coquihalla. The riding is currently represented by a member of the conservative party.

When is a beard more than a beard? When it's attached to the face of an international, metrosexual heartthrob who has one of the most recognizable visages on the globe.

Yes, America, it's time to beard it like David Beckham, as the English soccer star is going grizzly these days.

While in LA covering this year's NBA Finals, FanHouse's Jay Mariotti and Kevin Blackistone stopped by the AOL studios and dropped a little knowledge on this year's quest for the Larry O'Brien trophy. Is Kobe's focus sharper than it's ever been? Is Orlando just happy to have topped LeBron? And what about some series predictions? The "Around the Horn" veterans dish on these topics and more.

Check out the video after the jump.

The white whale of FMX has been the front flip. Until now. Video has recently surfaced of France's Charles Pages successfully pulling off a front flip during a training sesh.



FMX fanatics might make the claim that Jim DeChamp was the first one to pull off a front flip, but that was done on a specially modified bike. Pages pulled it off on a regular Suzuki RM250 that he would ride in any FMX competition.

Allez, Chuckie!

(H/T: ESPN's FMX Blog)

If you're Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the last year hasn't been so bad. Think about it: You had 96 catches for 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns during the regular season; you had three touchdowns in the NFC Championship Game, you had two more touchdowns in Super Bowl XLIII (so what if you wound up losing the game?), and you're named the MVP of the Pro Bowl. Not a bad year, right?

Well, things just got a little bit better for Larry on Friday, as it was announced that he was the cover guy for EA's Madden NFL 10 (along with Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu).

So what does Larry think about being on the cover? Why is he sure he's going to reverse the Madden Curse? What's the latest on Anquan Boldin's contract situation? And why does he think Matt Leinart is the next Steve Young? I asked Larry all of these questions and more during some time here in New York. Read the full interview after the jump.

(FanHouse is excited to work with writer Carrie Stewart, who recently scored an ample amount of time with Heat star Dwyane Wade. Stewart's full interview, which covers everything from misplaced diamonds to Barack Obama to those Star Jones rumors, is in its entirety below. Enjoy.)

Playoffs? You wanna talk about playoffs? Playoffs? (to borrow from Jim Mora Sr. circa 2001). Answer: of course you wanna talk about playoffs, with the top 16 teams set to go head-to-head starting Saturday. But I felt like taking a quick breather from all the playoff buzz to talk to one of the league's best players, if not the best (yeah, I said it; sorry, LeBron) and find out a little of what goes on in the mind of Miami's superstar.

Carrie Stewart: "You have a lot of nicknames, so what do your friends call you?"

Dwyane Wade: "Most of my friends call me 'D', some call me Wade, some even call me Flash, but none of them really call me Dwyane, so if you were my friend of mine, Dwyane would not be one of the names you would call me."