Soccer

SEATTLE - Remember Clint Mathis? He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2002 behind the headline "America's Best." He played in the World Cup that year sporting an awesome mohawk, and scored that critical (and technically impressive) goal against South Korea that kept the U.S. national team alive for a second round berth. He also scored five goals in one game for New York, conjured this Maradona-esque effort against Dallas and for a couple of years, thanks to his skill and ability to produce the spectacular, was considered a huge part of American soccer's future.

Then it all just unraveled. A knee injury, a row with his coach at Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga and a less-than-disciplined lifestyle reduced Mathis to an afterthought. He returned to MLS in 2005, played for four clubs in four anonymous years then went to Greece. Real Salt Lake brought him aboard 15 months ago and now, 10 years after playing in an MLS Cup final as a rising star for Los Angeles, his odyssey has returned him to American soccer's biggest stage.

LONDON (AP) -- Thierry Henry denied Friday that he was a cheat but said the "fairest solution" would be to replay the France-Ireland World Cup playoff that was decided by his handball.

Henry set up the deciding goal for William Gallas by controlling the ball with his hand in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at the Stade de France. The goal in extra time gave France a spot in next year's World Cup with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Ireland after two legs of the playoffs.

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.

Anfield, Saturday 1245 GMT

LIVERPOOL:
With just one win in their previous nine encounters in all competitions, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez knows a victory here is simply vital.

He has been buoyed by the return of captain Steven Gerrard, who has played just 70 minutes since injuring himself on international duty last month, but even his return does not lift all off the gloom on the red half of Merseyside.

A win against Mark Hughes's men would not only re-establish Liverpool's top-four credentials but it would simultaneously hamper City's own ambitions off breaking into the top four, so this match is a "six-pointer" in every sense of the word.

The World Cup is fixed.

But in the outrage from the illegal handball seen 'round the world (but not by the referees) Wednesday by France's superstar Thierry Henry, which earned the French team a plane ride to South Africa over Ireland for next summer's global soccer scrum, the small fact about the manner in which world soccer's governing body has arranged its grand quadrennial championship has been overlooked.

That is understandable given the implications of the missed call for as blatant a touching of the ball with a hand -- the ultimate no-no in futbol -- that has been witnessed in a major soccer match in sometime. Thierry, who all of us on this side of the pond know from his Gillette commercials with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, not only touched the ball once with his hand, but twice.

SEATTLE -- Surely Landon Donovan is now just 90 minutes away from tying up just about every loose end remaining in his Major League Soccer career. He is the player of the decade, but before Thursday never had been named player of the year. Perhaps a victim of his own consistency, Donovan raised the bar in 2009. He brought his fractured team together and captained the club to first place in the Western Conference, tallying 12 goals and six assists.

It is slightly ironic, however, that Donovan was not here in Seattle to accept the award. The Galaxy were not scheduled to arrive until later in the day, meaning the player who has been the real face of American soccer for the past nine years was unavailable to smile for the cameras. It is something the league may have to get used to. Rumors of a winter transfer have been circulating for months, and if Los Angeles completes its climb from the basement to the MLS Cup penthouse on Sunday, Donovan certainly has nothing left to prove.

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.

France advanced to the 2010 World Cup thanks to a no-call on a Thierry Henry hand ball that set up the William Gallas' overtime goal. Not surprisingly, the Irish side was incensed, and Henry bluntly stated after the match that, "I will be honest, it was a hand ball. But I'm not the ref ... I played it. The ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him", probably didn't help.

Hand balls are a part of soccer and they go uncalled all the time. The difference in Henry's case is that it couldn't have been more obvious if he caught the ball and threw it in the goal.

Upshot: the hand ball no-call has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal against England during the 1986 World Cup.

Both videos after the jump.

The international break has taken its toll on our pampered Premier League stars. Among those injured in the line of duty were Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Robin van Persie, John Terry, John O'Shea and Michael Ballack.

Arsene Wenger once likened the use of his Arsenal players by international teams and coaches to them taking a car from his garage without asking permission.

He added: "They will then use the car for 10 days and abandon it in a field without any petrol left in the tank. We then have to recover it, but it is broken down. Then a month later they will come to take your car again, and for good measure you're expected to be nice about it."

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) - France qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup when officials missed an obvious hand ball by Thierry Henry that led to William Gallas' overtime goal in a 1-1 tie against Ireland on Wednesday night.

Les Bleus avoided a penalty-kicks shootout and won the home-and-home, total-goals playoff 2-1, boosted by its 1-0 victory at Dublin last Saturday.