Earlier this week, the Colorado Rapids sent center midfielder Kyle Beckerman to Real Salt Lake in exchange for Mehdi Ballouchy, a move that Ian Plenderleith of USSoccerPlayers characterizes as a positive one for struggling RSL. The addition of Beckerman as a holding midfielder could pave the way for Freddy Adu to move back into the center. Coach Jason Kreis has mainly deployed Adu on the left, favoring the creative Ballouchy as a link in the center. With Beckerman (who Technical Director John Ellinger describes as adding bite to midfield) behind him, Adu could move into the withdrawn striker role he played so well during the U20 World Cup.
Plenderleith says Beckerman's exit answers a similar sort of problem for Colorado, as the 25-year-old "was perhaps too similar in style to another aggressive holding player, Pablo Mastroeni." Ballouchy is now charged with the task of giving Colorado "a touch of finesse further up the field." Neither of these players have exactly "sparkled" this season, but both have the tools to fill gaps in their respective new clubs.
Separately, Plenderleith serves up a humorous review of Victoria Beckham's NBC special "Victoria Beckham Comes to America", which we won't spend any time on here, except to say that it lost its time slot to reruns of ABC's "Wife Swap" and two CBS sitcoms.
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