Beckham and Ferguson Getting Back on Good Terms

Truce or reconciliation?

The relationship had become sour between English soccer star David Beckham (27) and his coach Alex Ferguson (61, Manchester United) since the "locker room conflict." The two, however, showed a sign of getting back on good terms for the first time since the accident.

At the summit of the UEFA Champions League group D, which took place yesterday at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Beckham made two skillful assists, helping his team beat Juventus (Italy) 2-1.

The win, achieved with the excellent performance of Beckham, put United firmly in command of the section with maximum nine points from three games completed. If Manchester succeeds in winning one and drawing another in remaining three games, Manchester will advance to the quarterfinal for the 7th time.

After the game, Ferguson stretched himself and praised Beckham. He stressed, "Beckham was perfect. I got impressed by his wonderful passes." Even prior to the game, Ferguson told Beckham that "I`m sorry for the injury. I didn`t mean it," courting a reconciliation from Beckham.

Beckham did his part. He accepted Ferguson`s apology. He said, "We did out best to win the game with Juventus. In the process, the incident happened, and that is a past event now."

But the foreign press has defined the reconciliation between Beckham and Ferguson as an angry truce, and doubt how long the unstable cohabitation would last.

In the meanwhile, in the group D, the Swish team Basel surprisingly beat the renowned Spanish team Deportivo 1-0. In the group C, Italy`s AC Milan succeeded in defending its first position with maximum nine points by beating a Russian team 1-0. On the other hand, Real Madrid (Spain) beat its German opponent 2-1 by Ronaldo`s game winning goal, and successfully raised up its ranking from 4th to 2nd.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com