Referee Alan Wiley had his fitness questioned by Sir Alex Ferguson.

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If, as they say, a minute is a long time in soccer, then 14 days must be a lifetime. So would it appear to be in the world of Sir Alex Ferguson, where time and timekeeping seem to be the primary conduits of his mood.

The Manchester United manager's ire was fully cranked on Saturday when he launched into a bitter rant against referee Alan Wiley. Ferguson claimed that Wiley was lacking in sufficient fitness to manage an English Premier League game and that he had conspired to take extra time to yellow card a player in order to allow himself to "rest."

As a result, according to Ferguson's garbled logic, his United players were denied additional time to attempt a winning goal and had to settle for a disappointing 2-2 home draw against Sunderland.

Sniping at match officials is common practice in soccer around the world, yet Ferguson's comments about Wiley went way overboard.

"I was

The effort of David Beckham (right) is no longer an issue for his Galaxy teammates.

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LOS ANGELES – David Beckham has the pop-star wife, Beverly Hills home, millions in the bank and even a spot on those annoying California tourism commercials.

And finally, two years and two months after moving to the United States, he has the full respect of his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates.

The transformation of Beckham from a closeted outsider in the Galaxy locker room to archetypal team player has taken place behind closed doors in one of the England midfielder's rare sanctuaries away from the public glare. Yet the seismic shift in his attitude and approach to Major League Soccer since returning from a loan stint at AC Milan in July has not only infused fresh life into the Galaxy, but it has also given U.S. soccer's fans and followers a fresh respect for the 34-year-old.

Just a few months after the details of Beckham's fractured relationship with Landon Donovan

Leonardo had no answers in Milan's 1-0 upset loss to Zurich.

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One man does not make a team, but in the case of Kaka, it appears his departure has broken his former club.

AC Milan cashed in on its Brazilian playmaker at the end of last season, offloading him to Real Madrid for $95 million, and vice president Adriano Galliani confidently predicted the team could cope without the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year.

However, without Kaka's poise and trickery, the 2009-10 season has started disastrously for the Rossoneri, and the pressure is mounting.

Head coach Leonardo was already under fire following a miserable start in Serie A with just eight points from six games. It was hoped that the UEFA Champions League could spark a revival. Instead, it provided only more humiliation Wednesday with a devastating 1-0 upset defeat at home to Swiss side FC Zurich.

Galliani fancies himself as a master wheeler and dealer in the transfer market, but getting rid of

Things weren't thumbs up for Carlo Ancelotti (left) and Co. against Wigan.

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Carlo Ancelotti must have been tempted to thumb his nose at the English Premier League rulebook last weekend and send out a Chelsea minion to buy him a couple of packs of cigarettes.

Ancelotti has been unable to indulge his smoking habit since taking over as Chelsea head coach due to EPL regulations, but never can he have felt in greater need of nicotine reinforcement than last Saturday.

Chelsea's 3-1 defeat at Wigan was its first of the season, yet already the alarm bells are ringing around Stamford Bridge.

It was not so much the score line that generated concern, nor the fact it came against an unfancied opponent. No, it was the timid way Ancelotti's millionaire players surrendered in the face of a keen and energetic opponent.

One defeat does not a season make, and it would be ludicrous to write off Chelsea's chances at this early stage. However, captain John Terry saw enough to

LOS ANGELES – Cris Arreola's tears were real, the unbridled release of emotion from a brave man denied the chance to finish the biggest night of his career on his feet.

Yet the saddest thing about this occasion was the stark realization of just how far away from the United States the balance of power in heavyweight boxing now lies.

The Staples Center, the increasingly iconic venue that has played host to Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Wayne Gretzky and Bruce Springsteen, was just a temporary pit stop in the grinding heavyweight circus on Saturday.

When Vitali Klitschko first fought in Los Angeles in 2003, it was because America was where the division's centrifugal force lay. Back then, Klitschko came to Staples and had his face pulled apart by Lennox Lewis, battling hard before a cuts stoppage sliced off his challenge after six rounds.

This time, Klitschko arrived as WBC champion, and he ventured here because he felt like it, not because he had to. Boxing-wise, his contest with Arreola

LOS ANGELES – A snowstorm of sweetness, light and goodwill is how the world is supposed to see Bode Miller's comeback to professional ski racing.

Miller, the United States' best-known downhill star despite never having won Olympic gold, announced on Thursday the end of his seven-month hiatus from skiing and two-year exile from the U.S. Ski Team, just in time for preparations for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The marketing folk put on quite a show, booking out a room at the Staples Center and lining up journalists from around the world to participate in a question and answer session via internet and telephone.

The choreography was seamless – more than two questions and each interviewer was moved along with a "tsk tsk" and a tap on the shoulder – and the volume of painted-on smiles and PR paranoia made one wonder if a pop diva was about to take center stage.

So why the level of structure and caution surrounding an athlete who, while a huge superstar in Europe, could walk

The conspiracy theorists never salivate quite as eagerly as when there is a whiff of controversy surrounding Manchester United.

Sunday's spectacular derby provided endless fodder for conjecture.

The six minutes and change of injury time that was allowed at Old Trafford – giving Michael Owen just enough precious seconds to seal a 4-3 United victory over local rival Manchester City – will be debated and examined for years to come.

Once again, it seemed as if United had been the beneficiary of dubious refereeing. Owen's dramatic goal brought back memories of United's title-turning triumph over Sheffield Wednesday 16 years ago when Steve Bruce headed in the winner seven minutes into injury time.

The Red Devils attract bitterness and hostility like no other team in the English Premier League, and around the country on Sunday the perception of big-club favoritism was rife. However, as much fun as it might be to whisper about secret plots and pacts, the fact remains that this was a

LAS VEGAS – The sleepless city was its usual brash and unapologetic self Saturday evening, but this was not the kind of super-charged fight night to electrify Las Vegas.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback carnival was just one part of the weekend entertainment on the Strip, not the central calling point for the night's revelry.

Mayweather was clinical and crafty and showed there is no finer pugilist on the planet, dismantling the smaller and slower Juan Manuel Marquez over 12 one-sided rounds. But this was neither great theater nor a thrilling spectacle, more an event that went through the motions and followed a predictable outcome.

Indeed, while this fight had the marketing hook of being Mayweather's first bout in two years and featured two pound-for-pound stars, it will go down in Mayweather's career timeline as little more than a tuneup.

The boxing world hopes it was preparation for Manny Pacquiao, the matchup everyone with interest in this punishing sport wants to see. Instead, it