Beckham in America - soccer's ultimate triumph of style over substance

Reprinted with permission from Ralph Speaks Sports

Newsflash for Americans uncertain about the potential impact of David Beckham’s arrival in the states - he’s not the second coming of Pele, not even close.

Beckham is basically a one trick pony, though it is a very good trick. He is able to hit hard, precise crosses and free kicks with a tremendous amount of spin, causing the ball to “bend” as in “Bend it Like Beckham”. Though through modern global marketing he is better known in the United States than Pele was when he came here in the 1970‘s, that’s about the only thing Beckham has over him. But back then, not even the greatest player of all-time could make soccer into a major American sport, and certainly a mere soccer celebrity like Becks is doomed to similar failure.

Like a lot of people, I’ve tuned into a couple of Los Angeles Galaxy matches out of curiosity, to see how Beckham would fare against lesser competition than he faced during his days at Manchester United and Real Madrid. Since his arrival in L.A., he’s had a few shining moments, but he hasn’t even been close to being the best player on the pitch (field) let alone the top player in the league. Some part of his lackluster performances is due to an ankle injury that he picked up during English national team duty in June, but truth be told to all those casual soccer fans who thought they were getting one of the world’s greatest, Beckham is not one of the ten best players in his own country, and he’s not close to being in the top 100 worldwide.

Beckham’s new supporting cast is certainly nowhere near as talented as those he played with in Europe. In order for him to be able to “bend it”, the rest of his teammates have to do a lot of hard work to make up for some of Beckham’s deficiencies. That’s not to say he isn’t a hard worker, he just lacks some of the speed, creativity and ability to beat a defender one-on-one necessary to win at the top level. If you have players that can compliment Beckham and allow him to do his thing, then his addition to the line-up is a competitive plus. But that’s not the case with the Galaxy who have been languishing at the bottom of the MLS standings all season long.

I watched the Superliga (the North and Central American equivalent of the European Champions League) final the other night. I was mostly attracted to the match because it pitted the Galaxy, an American team, against one from Mexico, Pachuca. And yes, there was a little part of me that wanted to see what Becks could do in a big game. As most sports fans know by now, Beckham sprained his right knee on a 50-50 challenge 30 minutes into a game that the Galaxy eventually lost in penalty kicks at the game’s end. His injury was the result of having a big heart and a not so big brain (Posh Spice didn’t marry David to help broaden her mind). Beckham decided to fly over the pond to play in an exhibition match between England and Germany instead of staying home and nursing his damaged ankle. During the match with Pachuca, it was evident that he wasn’t into doing that much running, and when Landon Donovan chased a ball to the end line and back-healed it to keep it in play, he was hitting it towards Beckham. Beckham had been slow to follow the attack that he started with an incisive 30 yard pass, and he delayed for a second before going full hearted and full blast into the fateful challenge.

There is a constant struggle throughout world football between club and country for player participation. Every player wants to don the colors of his nation, but clubs pay high salaries to these athletes and resent when they come back tired or worse as damaged goods. Beckham had actually been out of the England squad until a run of good form at Madrid put him back on the team’s radar, so I understand his desire to continue to reprove himself in international competition. But when MLS gives you a quarter billion dollar deal to be its star attraction, your first responsibility is to get fit so you can deliver on that promise.

But even when fully fit, Beckham would be hard pressed to make the starting eleven of an MLS all-star team. When Pele came, he was head and shoulders above any other player in the old North American Soccer League despite being beyond his physical prime. I would far preferred to have seen MLS invest in Zinedene Zidane, master of the head butt to the chest from the French national team. Like Pele, Zidane, who retired after the 2006 World Cup, would have come to America in his mid-thirties with still enough left in the tank to school all who would play against and with him. Beckham has the occasional flash of brilliance, but the mastery of the truly great players is on display for the full ninety minutes of every match.

Like I said, Beckham is a soccer celebrity and not a soccer great, though I think he is a hell of a lot better looking than his pop star wife (are you sure he didn’t marry Scary Spice?).