U.S. soccer player DaMarcus Beasley’s car is firebombed in Scotland

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In another example of thuggish behavior in Britain, Glasgow Rangers and U.S. national team player DaMarcus Beasley saw his $80,000 German luxury automobile firebombed outside his home in Glasgow on Monday night.

According to the Scottish Daily Record, a witness saw a hooded figure place what was believed to be a gasoline bomb under Beasley’s car at about 11 p.m.

‘The guy put something under the car then walked backwards crouching down, making a line of petrol for about five meters,’ the unidentified witness told the newspaper. ‘He lit it with what looked like a lighter and the car went up.’

Shortly afterward, Beasley looked out his window when he heard a screech of tires as a car sped past his home in the city’s plush Dowanhill neighborhood. He saw his car engulfed in flames.

Police said it was the only car on the street to be targeted by thugs, but the motivation for the attack was not immediately known.

Beasley, 27, made a statement on his Twitter account: ‘Someone blew up my car today. Thanks again for ALL the messages and kind words. But, yea, I’m doin’ OK and in the market for a new car. LOL. Gotta try to find some humor.’

A Rangers spokesperson called it ‘a disturbing and deplorable incident,’ and said the Scottish Premier League club would do all it could to assist police.

Beasley, a U.S. World Cup player in 2002 and 2006, has played for Rangers since 2007 after previous spells with the Galaxy, Chicago Fire, PSV Eindhoven and Manchester City. At least four other Rangers players have had their cars vandalized in the past, and the club has stepped up security on its players.

-- Grahame L. Jones