2 posts tagged “mls”
This ad was on the LA Times website. Things are getting out of hand. Ridiculous.
I'm pretty sure that the people who designed this ad are completely oblivious to the tragic irony of this image, given that Becks is no longer an England player, let alone England captain. Indeed, dropping Beckham has probably been the only praiseworthy act of Steve McLaren's England reign.
I was rather sympathetic towards Beckham to begin with, because he did give his best to United (considering his lack of success at Real) and his decline and exit from the England team was fairly sad and ignominious (and not helped by being a pillar/symbol of the Erickson error era). But if this is the sort of publicity that he's going to get, then he doesn't really need any sympathy, does he?
It seems to me that the marketing of American sports is almost always centred around individuals. However, while fans can be similarly obsessed with their favourite players, the nature of football (the one the rest of the world plays) is such that it is much more difficult for one player to truly dominate or take over a game, unlike a star quarterback, running back or high-scoring basketball player.
Good luck, David. I'm not sure what exactly the Galaxy's publicity people are expecting you to do when you get there, but unless you play every game the way you did in the match against Greece before World Cup 2002, the fans are going to be disappointed.
A star quarterback touches the ball on every offensive play, so he literally holds his team's fate in his hands.
A star basketball player - Kobe, Jordan, whatever - also touches the ball on almost every play.
A star pitcher throws the vast majority of pitches in a game.
A star batsman bats in almost every inning.
Even star running backs or wide receivers are going to be the focus of the majority of their team's plays.
A star footballer can barely touch the ball for 90 minutes, then suddenly produce five seconds of genius that decides the game. But that means that for the other 89 minutes and 55 seconds, he might basically be doing nothing. Not to say that he isn't playing well, but that's just the nature of the game. Very few players are spectacular for 90 minutes, and those players tend to be the exciting dribblers like Ronaldo, Giggsy or even Maradona.
And Becks definitely isn't that kind of player.
Sorry, couldn't resist the headline...
So Posh Spice Beckham decided that LA was the place to be, and David goes from being just one of Madrid's galacticos to the undisputed centre of the Galaxy.
I'm not surprised that he chose the US. Having played for United and Real, there was really nowhere in Europe that he could've gone without it being an obvious letdown. As it is, the tone of the British press has been merciless - the worst was FU's Russell Brand describing Beckham as "an old dog looking for a quiet place to die". But US$125m over five years probably makes all that easy to ignore. Frankly, I think the British press is being unfair, not to mention typically xenophobic and arrogant in their dismissal of 'soccer' in the US.
What has been surprising is the reaction of the US press, who have been giving Beckham fantastic, positive coverage. His decision even made the Wall Street Journal and was the main picture story on the NY Times website. I even heard a passing reference to Beckham on CNBC's Morning Bell!
Who knows? Perhaps Beckham's arrival will have the same effect that Pele's arrival at the New York Cosmos had in the 1970s. Certainly, that appears to be the plan, and I can see other aging superstars moving over to the US if Beckham is successful.
In footballing terms, I just have one question : apart from his freekicks, Beckham's game is built on assists - but who is he going to be creating goals for? Beckham's crosses are great, but you still need a striker with sufficient skill to make use of them, especially when they come in at pace.
We'll see. In the meantime, if you want to see how all this has actually happened before, I highly recommend the documentary Once In A Lifetime. Released last year, it tells the fascinating story of the New York Cosmos era that I mentioned earlier, when soccer-fever suddenly swept the US and stars like Pele, Beckenbauer and Cruyff all ended up in the NASL.
Of course, it all fizzled out in the end, and it's hilarious to watch everyone in the documentary laying the blame at Tony Soprano lookalike Giorgio Chinaglia's feet.
In fact, if I were Beckham, I'd sit down with the missus and watch this. History might be about to repeat itself.
Oh yeah, and given all the hoopla about the Beckham-Cruise friendship, does anybody want to bet that Beckham and Posh are going end up as Scientologists?
