Soccer Serie A Italy

The Hollywood paparazzi are going to have a little less fodder on the sidelines at Los Angeles Lakers games come January. Italian giants AC Milan have officially confirmed the long-rumored second loan of English midfielder David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

While the official details of the loan haven't been released, this much seems to be known. Beckham will join Milan in January and finish out the 2009-10 Serie A season, before he hopes to join England's team at next June's World Cup. This means, as he did this season, Beckham would parachute back to the Galaxy in either late June, or more likely, early July.

In a very unsurprising development, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani declared that the club is "95 percent" finished on bringing back David Beckham to the club in January on loan. Galliani went as far as to call it a "done deal."

Unlike last year when there was a lot of alarm and acrimony when Beckham announced his intentions to play somewhere else during the break in the MLS season, this time there doesn't seem to be too much problem that he'll be away from the Los Angeles Galaxy for a period of time after the 2009 season wraps in November.

It would have been an almost unbelievable ending--the humble yet powerful hometown hero rising into the air to tie a game scheduled so fans could worship at the altar of Chelsea and AC Milan's big foreign stars.

But it was not to be. Oguchi Onyewu's 92nd-minute header went just wide of the right post, and the English club escaped with a 2-1 win in Friday night's World Football Challenge exhibition at Baltimore's sold out M&T Bank Stadium. About an hour afterward, the U.S. national team's starting center back and new Milan signee spoke with a small group of journalists in the humid tunnels outside the locker rooms, discussing his move to Serie A, his return to play in the state where he grew up and the dramatic goal that almost was.

Consider this a rumor that's slowly gaining steam over the last few days. Goal.com confirmed Wednesday that Landon Donovan's agent has been contacted by promoted Serie A club Livorno for a possible transfer to the Italian club. The report also confirms that the club is also interested in U.S. midfielder Ricardo Clark.

It's surprising that after his standout performance during June's Confederations Cup that a small-ish club like Livorno is the first to make official contact with Donovan and attempt to pry him away from the Los Angeles Galaxy this summer.

Not to be outdone by their eternal rivals Real Madrid, European champion Barcelona appears on the verge of making a major splash by adding Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a transfer from Inter Milan. What makes the move all the more spectacular is that 2008-09 La Liga second-leading goal scorer Samuel Eto'o is rumored to be going back to Milan in the exchange as well as somewhere in the range of $65 million.

As of Friday afternoon reports were varied on the progress of the deal. The Associated Press said the two sides have a deal in principle, while other outlets are reporting the two sides are still talking. The deal, it would seem, hinges on the individuals themselves, which also include former Arsenal winger Aleksandr Hleb going to Italy.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- David Beckham says Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan is unprofessional for speaking out without confronting him first.

Beckham, who was making his first public appearance in Southern California since returning from his five-month loan with Italian club AC Milan, said he had not spoken to Donovan, who called him a bad captain and portrayed him as stingy in an upcoming book The Beckham Experiment, written by Grant Wahl.

Maybe the most under-reported aspect of the U.S. national team's run to the Confederations Cup final last month was that, given the spotlight, a couple of American players probably earned themselves some nice European paydays. Nowhere was this more evident than starting central defender Oguchi Onyewu, especially after his epic performance in the U.S.'s 2-0 win over-then FIFA No. 1 Spain in the tournament semifinals.

All of the post-Confederations Cup scuttlebutt surrounding Onyewu, who was out of contract at Belgian champ Standard Liege, were moves to lower-tier Premier League clubs and some far-flung Turkish teams. So Tuesday's announcement that the 6-foot-4 Maryland native signed with Italian giants AC Milan on a three-year contract comes as a pleasant surprise for U.S. fans since it's a far cry from a pre-Confederations Cup link to Birmingham City.

MILAN (AP) - United States defender Oguchi Onyewu has joined AC Milan on a three-year contract the club said Tuesday, becoming the first American to join Serie A in more than 10 years.

Milan acquired Onyewu from Standard Liege in Belgium after some outstanding performances in the United States' run to the Confederations Cup final. The U.S. lost 3-2 to Brazil in the final.

Financial details of the transfer were not disclosed.

ESPN studio host Rece Davis probably said it best. Monday at the Confederations Cup, we found the next (or first if you will) American soccer star.

The problem, Giuseppe Rossi played in the blue of Italy, not the U.S. white Monday in the Confederations Cup Group B opener for both teams. The New Jersey born attacker came on as a second half substitute and promptly scored a pair of cracking goals to give the Azzurri a 3-1 win in Pretoria, South Africa. The U.S. remains winless in seven all-time matches against Italy.

By all accounts, the United States' run at the 2006 World Cup was an unmitigated disaster. If there was a lone bright spot, it came in the second group-stage match against Italy, where a scrappy U.S. side hung on for a 1-1 draw in a red-card plagued match in Kaiserslautern.

Three years later, the two sides are at it again -- this time in the opening match of Group B play in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. Many of the participants from that match should see action on Monday, including the Azzurri's Danielle De Rossi, who famously elbowed U.S. forward Brian McBride, opening up a huge gash on the American's forehead.

McBride won't be in Pretoria, but maybe he can follow along in our live blog, which begins at 2:30 PM ET.