Beckham Bandwagon Gives MLS Hope

Sean O'Conor

Thus far, the David Beckham experience has been a good one.

American soccer is slowly gaining respect in England after years of derision. MLS shirts are on sale in sports stores for the first time and a weekly show about Beckham and MLS airs on terrestrial UK television.

When Major League Soccer announced it had snagged the Golden Balls franchise back in the spring, the laughs were heard across Europe.

It seemed Beckham was taking a de facto retirement from the real major leagues by signing up for a final payday in a minor league, in the process sating the celebrity ego of his less than A-list wife by relocating conveniently to Los Angeles, the epicenter of entertainment.

The laughs were soon followed by the sneers. How could MLS afford such huge wages when it was millions in debt? How would his underpaid teammates react? How would an aging Beckham cope with the onus of dazzling the public while engaging in Hollywood publicity? One British tabloid called the LA Galaxy "a pub team" soon after Beckham joined them.

Becks is still not fully fit, and one suspects his second half introduction against DC United on the 9th of August was somewhat forced by the weight of expectation. He has just played his first 90 minutes despite a sore ankle but in each game he has performed well, if not that energetically, pulling the strings from a defensive midfield position rather than charging upfield. Despite his relative lack of pace, At LA Beckham has reverted to his preferred central midfield role and is not hitting curling crosses from the right wing anymore.

The Galaxy’s 5-4 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Giants Stadium was a fantastic night for football in America. As if sensitive to the much-cited lack of goals as the reason fans of American sports will not switch to soccer, the teams served up nine.

The game at the Meadowlands was exciting, swinging both ways before a late goal from Juan Pablo Angel settled the contest. And all this took place in front of over 66,000, recalling the halcyon days of the New York Cosmos at the same venue, as wonderfully retold by Gavin Newsham in Once in a Lifetime.

Of course, Beckham was the reason for the huge turn-out, as he gratefully acknowledged afterwards. His away appearances had pulled 46,686 & 35,402 before Saturday’s monster crowd at Giants, in a league whose average is only 17,000.

Can it last? American soccer will reel if Beckham sustains the type of season-long injury that Michael Owen seems to pick up every other year. This week he flies back to play for his country, allowing us the first chance to judge how the eight hour time difference and long-haul jet travel will affect his England career.

Keeping his England place will be a considerable challenge for the Leytonstone lad, not just because of the jet lag, which is worse when losing time flying East across the Atlantic. His LA Galaxy teammates are largely of a lower standard than those at Real Madrid and Manchester United, while the American season is played in high humidity and involves a lot of flying.

Beckham gambled on his England career having ended when he chose to cross the pond, but following his successful recall against Brazil, he is back in the frame and knows he now has a growing dilemma on his hands.

Returning to Europe seems unthinkable after the media frenzy he has started in America, so the Beckham – Steve McClaren dynamic will be intriguing to watch over the next year. The England coach marked out his territory by dropping Beckham as soon as he took the reigns, but after successfully recalling him for the Brazil friendly, crossed the Atlantic specially to watch him a week ago as he prepared for an England friendly.

For now, everything is rosy in the garden. The Beckham bandwagon has recouped the big outlay through increased sponsorship, ticket and merchandise sales. Big domestic soccer crowds returned to New York for the first time in years on Saturday and the one player who was already a household name (thanks to the movie Bend it like Beckham) is attracting new fans to the sport. One man cannot carry the sport alone, but every little helps and Pele proved how to start a fire, even if it went out for some time after he left.

Although the professional game in America is a litany of false dawns and lost opportunities, MLS has established a firmer base than any previous incarnation. But with crowds stagnating for the past few seasons, it needed an injection of life, a kick in the backside and so far, it looks like the Beckham gamble has paid off.

Sean O'Conor

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