The Craig Bellamy Foundation

West Ham and Wales striker Craig Bellamy has had an interesting career.
From spats with teammates to public wrangling with coaches and trainers, Bellamy has never been far from the spotlight.

It's with interest I saw the story of Bellamy planning to build a football academy in Sierra Leone to try to help develop the country's young talent.

There's a dose of skepticism, of course. What are his intentions?

But at the core of it, it's a very touching, heartwarming move.

Bellamy visited the war-torn country last year and was so impressed by the local playing talent that he vowed to help them improve facilities.

He has now set up the Craig Bellamy Foundation, which will start to build an academy in the capital Freetown.

"Because of the war, children haven't had any opportunity," he said.

"They haven't been thrown a football, they've been thrown a gun. Now we can give them a chance that their fathers or grandfathers never had. That's the buzz for me. I'm not looking to find and sell players. I'm not an agent. I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy."

Bellamy has reportedly invested nearly £650,000 (about $1,269,000) of his own money into the foundation and the academy is set to include 14 new leagues and 68 new boys' teams and employ 141 managers and coaches.

While improving the country's football is Bellamy's primary motivation, he also hopes the foundation will lead to more youngsters receiving health awareness education.

MY POV: This sounds like a riveting, exciting project. It's nice to see a footballer using his money for good instead of instant gratification. Many think Bellamy is a bit of a malcontent based on his history. But whomever he may be, he should be applauded for trying to help.

Africans in Major League Soccer

It's not often that I write about Major League Soccer, the American professional soccer league.

Even though it's in my own backyard, I don't get out to see it as often as I would like.

Truth be told, the soccer home of David Beckham has made strides in becoming a more international league.

Last season's aquisition of the free-kicking Beckham from Real Madrid helped some as has the international flavor of star players such as Claudio Lopez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

This season, two Gambian internationals have staked their claim to fame in MLS, featuring for the New England Revolution.

In this article from Yahoo's Martin Rogers, we get an inside look at the way the two Gambian youngsters, Abdoulie “Kenny” Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, have assimilated into the team.

Here's an excerpt. To read the entire article, please click the link above.

New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol has already gained a reputation as the master of the Major League Soccer draft, snapping up unheralded college players and turning them into solid performers.

This season, though, Nicol and his coaching staff went a step further by introducing two unknown youngsters from a far away continent to boost New England’s start to the campaign.

Gambian youngsters Abdoulie “Kenny” Mansally and Sainey Nyassi suffered a series of problems – including visa issues, lost baggage and a huge difference in weather from west Africa to New England – after they were snapped up in the offseason. Their impact on the Revs has been immediate, helping the team rack up impressive victories over the two-time MLS champion Houston Dynamo and in-form Kansas City Wizards on the road.

“You expect there to be a period of settling in when lads come over to a different environment,” assistant coach Paul Mariner said. “But these two have hit the ground running and done very well straight away. They have got the right attitude and they are a pleasure to work with because we know we can help to develop their games to a new level.”