Beckham Amongst the Yanks
If you're a soccer fan, you've heard of David Beckham. If you're not a soccer fan, you've probably STILL heard of David Beckham. He's the most popular player in the world, and he's coming to our shores.
In the past, I have gone a bit ballistic when MLS has brought in players who are past the twilights of their careers and gone after other players of similar ilk just for their names. Lothar Matthaeus may be the best example of the former. The guy came over to MLS and it was clear from the moment he got here that we were his version of retirement community shuffleboard. And when MLS started going after Paul Gascoigne, I almost had a spastic attack right then and there. Gascoigne would have been more of the same, plus attitude problems out the wazoo.
In fact, I can only think of one big name player who's come over to MLS from Europe and actually improved his team: Youri Djorkaeff. Some of you may say "What about Thomas Dooley?" My repsonse to that is "I said BIG NAME PLAYERS." Dooley, as good as he was, was a good player in Europe but by no means was he a big name.
Now we have Beckham. And you know what? This may be a shot in the arm for the league. While it's doing okay financially and is stable, it's not growing as quickly as most soccer fans (and the league itself) would like. But a name like Beckham coming over to MLS? That's going to put fans in the seats all over the country. Freddie Adu nearly caused Crew Stadium to sell out on the occasions he was here, and he was an untested player. Beckham would probably sell out in minutes.
And the other thing that his presence may do is show other European talent that this league is legitimate. And he'll help to make it more legitimate via his presence and also by what he can teach our players here. We may actually being to see soccer, instead of the sprint and foul game that we usually see in US Soccer.
The only downside? Well, he's playing for the Galaxy. 'Nuff said, there.
Now we just have to get John Hartson to come over to Columbus.... oh, wouldn't that be sweet...
You hear me, you Yank bastards? I'll put my big Welsh noggin through your puny defenders all day long!
2 comments:
I was one of the people who was impressed with Beckham for going to Spain when he did. I've been very critical of English players for not playing overseas as often as they could. I'm a firm believer that one of the problems England has had in international competition is that it's too insular and doesn't branch out to see how other countries play the game.
That's not to say that Beckham's gonna learn a darned thing over here in the land of the long ball and sprint. But he's going to have a lot to teach. And the money coming in from Beckham jerseys, Beckham posters, ticket sales, etc. will all be a great boon to MLS and US Soccer. He's one of the few international soccer players who people over here have actually heard of. Whether that's for his soccer skill or because of his Spice Wife is immaterial. People will pay to see him play here.
Regarding your description of Beck's defensive skill, I am actually looking forward to seeing a more or less one-dimensional player. US Youth Soccer tends to try to push every player into a sort of all-around talent mold instead of letting them develop a skill that they show promise with, and the upshot of this is that we have a lot of holding midfielders but few real strikers or defenders.
I just hope that the league front-loads Los Angeles with a lot of home games and in-division away games till Beckham gets here, because every team in the league could get a real boost in ticket sales from a Beckham appearance. My own favorite club, the Columbus Crew, only plays LA once at home all season... I'd hate to miss our chance to see him just because of scheduling (the teams in LA's division will have two home games against the Galaxy, so if they play one of those games pre-June 30 they'll still have another chance).
Ahh, john Hartson at The Crew... sure get a girl dreaming...
Post a Comment