Donovan vs. Beckham

On one hand, we have a player who has played for three of the four world's biggest clubs (Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan) vs. a guy who couldn't make the team at Bayern Munich. That about sums up the Donovan vs. Beckham brouhaha.

In Beckham, love him or hate him, you have the uber-professional - works hard, trains hard, never says a word out of line in the press regardless of the situation. Dumped from the English squad? Silently works harder to get his form back, and is rewarded a place on the team.

The worlds of MLS and the Big Three leagues (EPL, Liga and Calcio) are so incredibly far apart, they almost don't play the same sport. Donovan has no point of reference to understand what it's like to be a player at that level.

And surprisingly, Donovan seems to have little understanding of the cultural differences with Europe. He blasts Beckham for not being the typical American "rah-rah" captain. If he knew anything, he would know that the English abhor that type of leadership, feeling that it's juvenile and simplistic. And whining about Beckham not picking up the meal tabs? Really?

Upon returning to LA, all Beckham said was "Donovan's comments were unprofessional, but I'm going to be talking to him privately." No big blast, no diarrea of the mouth, just boom-boom over.

In soccer terms, this would be 99 ManU taking on the current-day Galaxy. No Contest. One can only imagine what was said between Beckham and Zidane as they watched the Galaxy play last night in their skybox.