MLS beats David Beckham into submission
August 31, 2007 by William K. Wolfrum
When David Beckham signed his historic deal with the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer, one potential problem seemed blindingly obvious – as an aging soccer star, injuries were very likely going to be a problem.
And all it took was a few weeks for the Galaxy decided to make sure their new mega-star would be on the shelf. Beckham has been diagnosed with a strained right knee, and will be out of action for both club and country for the next six weeks, at least.
Beckham had a bad ankle when he first showed up in the U.S. Which didn’t stop the Galaxy from rushing him onto the field. But then, in a move that showed that perhaps Americans just shouldn’t be involved in soccer in any way, shape or form, the Galaxy decided that the best way to use an aging Beckham was to overuse him, and gamble with his entire future.
First, Beckham flew from the U.S. to Europe to play for England in an international friendly against Germany. Than he flew back to the U.S., and 30 hours later, was on the pitch for the Galaxy. This is all while still not being fully recovered from his ankle injury, mind you.
Then, less than a week following his 30-hour, two-game, two-international-flight marathon Beckham was on the field for the Galaxy in the North American SuperLiga Final trophy against Mexico’s Pachuca, where his knee was injured in a tackle.
“He shouldn’t play, to be honest. He’s hurt, but he’s playing,” said Galaxy coach Frank Yallop.
Nice hindsight, coach. When Beckham signed with the MLS, he knew this was where his club career would likely end. What he didn’t know was how quickly it would likely end. Because if the Galaxy rush him back from this one, it could spell the end of Beckham’s career once and for all.
–WKW
I think that is a little unfair of you. Becks is the one who decided to play for England in a meaningless freindly, just no one at the Galaxy have the (golden) balls to stand up to him and say no! Maybe if Coach Yallop is replaced by Jurgen Klinsman or someone else with some backbone, he can tell Mr. Beckham when to play and when not to, and make the decision of when he should play (in the teams best interest) and when not to. I think Frank Yallop has as much backbone as Steve McClaren.
Cheers,
Cliff
Yeah, save some blame for the MLS who back-loaded the Galaxy schedule with a grueling series of road games so that everyone else could make money off the Becks Tour while his team suffers.
Pele couldn’t get the Cosmos to the playoffs his first year either, so at least there’s a precedent for this sort of thing.
I’m just sad we won’t get to see him take his shirt off anymore on the sidelines. That’s the real highlight.
From the average, uncultured, slob of an American POV, which I’m, it was all very amusing watching CNN and the other mass media actors trying in futility to create hype and buzz about this Beckham fellow. Which goes to prove that our mass media overlords, although easily able to hypnotize us into a disastrous unnecessary war in Iraq, have no chance of denting the impervious American lethargy about soccer. MLS ranks higher only to the WNBA in sports leagues Americans could care less about.
Byw, how’s the Barcelona Dragons doing lately?
Dgun I’m afraid you’ve forgot about NHL. American pro sports league hierarchy is NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL, WNBA, USL (minor league soccer), NFL Europa (RIP).
MLS will never overtake those first three, so I’m pretty happy where we are right now. I would argue that Beckham is doing just fine (some great goals and assists already) considering the injury and the fact he’s playing on a team with no skill on defense.
I also take it as a good sign that there’s a bigger US television audience for minor league soccer (USL games on FSC) than for NFL games in Europe. Part of why NFL Europa died (other than Europe not giving a damn) is that the TV deals evaporated because of so much soccer on ESPN2, FSC, HDNet, etc.
“Dgun I’m afraid you’ve forgot about NHL.”
HaHa. Good point, lol.