Roy Rees -- gone so suddenly, so sadly. They say he was 74, but that hardly seems possible to me. I suppose they're right, but Roy, both in mind and body, was always a young man to me.

Now that the Galaxy (or as it's far too often defined, "David Beckham's Galaxy") has won MLS Cup, we can settle down to have a bit of a ponder about its manner of claiming the title. Beckham has had his say, "We were incredible" is his modest opinion.

Trying to read any logic -- particularly soccer logic -- into any of the decisions made by ESPN regarding its soccer coverage is barely worth the bother.

Interesting bunch, these MLS season-award winners. For a whole variety of reasons they reflect various happenings and attitudes within the league and its clubs.

It is inevitable that this MLS Cup will be all about David Beckham. Even should the unthinkable happen and he is unable to play, that in itself would be the big story.

No joking now -- this is a heartfelt statement: I can genuinely declare that the Red Bulls' Hans Backe is the most likeable coach I have ever encountered at the pro level. And during over 50 years involvement in this sport, I've met a lot of coaches.

As far as I can discover, there is no specific FIFA rule that would prevent goalkeepers from making asses of themselves. Maybe there should be, as they clearly have some sort of inbuilt facility that enables them to excel on the idiocy front.

I mentioned some weeks back that the American Mark Geiger had been chosen to referee this year's Under-20 World Cup final. This was a particularly notable honor, as one of the referees also in line for the job was England's Mark Clattenburg, a man with seven years' experience refereeing in the English Premier League.

I suppose congratulations of some sort are in order for the Galaxy's Adam Cristman for managing to play 25 minutes against the Red Bulls on Saturday without anyone noticing that he was on the field -- and for then climaxing his invisibility with a moment of spectacular stupidity that everyone sure as hell did notice.