Source: Daily_Mail
LA experiment has been a disaster...but Beckham could still finish a winner
There is something disconcerting about hearing an Englishman say: 'I love playing soccer.' Not just any old Englishman. In fact, the country's most-capped outfield player of all time and a former England captain - David Beckham. [LNB]When Beckham announced his decision to join America's Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy in January 2007, the football world did a double take.[LNB] Beckham was a Real Madrid player, plying his trade with the likes of Roberto Carlos, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raul. His England days seemed numbered after he was frozen out of Steve McClaren's squad in August 2006, but he was still only 31. Was Beckham really ready to enter the semi-retired state of American soccer?[LNB] Captain America: David Beckham in action for Los Angeles Galaxys[LNB] The promise of £4million a year must have softened the step down in class, together with the £150m he expected to make from wages, endorsements and sponsorship deals during his five years in the US, but Beckham insisted it wasn't about the money.[LNB]'The main thing for me is to improve the soccer and to improve the standard and to be part of history,' he said.[LNB] Tomorrow, two-and-a-half years after Beckham first pulled on an LA Galaxy shirt in a friendly against Chelsea, his team will play Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final. [LNB]If the Galaxy are successful, Beckham will have won three championships in three different countries - England, Spain and the US. In a football culture that rarely sees English players foray to foreign shores, that's some achievement.[LNB] [LNB]Living the dream: Beckham plays American football with sons Brooklyn, Cruz and Romeo[LNB] Beckham's American adventure has seen him deified and derided, praised and pilloried, but he is still there, plugging away. He has not improved the standard of soccer, or even the standing of the game in the US, but he has certainly played an important part in its history. After all, had you ever heard of Los Angeles Galaxy before he walked into the Home Depot Center?[LNB] Grant Wahl, author of The Beckham Experiment, which chronicles his first 18 months in America, wrote in Sports Illustrated last July: 'In Beckham's two years with the Galaxy he has successfully sold jerseys and served as celebrity eye candy, but the soccer story has been an epic disaster.'[LNB] Six months ago, Beckham's bid to conquer America looked to be heading the same way as his wife Victoria's attempts to conquer the singles charts. He received a hostile reception when he returned from his six-month loan spell with AC Milan and was embroiled in an ugly confrontation with a fan who had hurled one epithet too many in his direction. Goldenballs was no longer the golden boy.[LNB] But moments like this have characterised Beckham's career. When the going gets tough, he invariably steps up a gear. [LNB]'You have to go through roughs and smooths,' he says. 'If you can't handle yourself, you don't put yourself up there. It is really the game that motivates me more than anything else. Success is good because it quietens people who have been hating.'[LNB] BECKHAM BY NUMBERS540,000 viewers for ESPN's coverage of LA Galaxy v Houston Dynamo on November 13, an MLS record[LNB]38mattendance at MLS games since 1996[LNB]240,741times Beckham's 70-yard wonder-strike against Kansas City was viewed on YouTube in 48 hours in May 2008 (it's now more than 908,500). If you didn't see it, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7k2L6c7XXk[LNB]20,827average attendance for Galaxy's home games in 2009[LNB]£4mBeckham's annual salary[LNB]£7,750annual salary of the two lowest-earning Galaxy players[LNB]62number of goals conceded by Galaxy in 30 games in 2008, an MLS record[LNB]5goals and 10 assists Beckham's contribution in 25 Galaxy games in 2008[LNB]Beckham's American dream could not have got off to a worse start. Hewas nursing an ankle injury when he joined the Galaxy in the summer of2007 and played just seven competitive games that season, scoring onegoal. When he did play, he tried too hard, running from right to leftwith abandon. It was clear Beckham did not trust his less famous, lessskilled team-mates and the £11,000 he was paid per minute on the pitchlooked a frivolous investment.[LNB]'It was a nightmare,' he admits now. But it wasn't all bad. TheBeckhams and their three children, Brooklyn, 10, Romeo, seven, andCruz, four, had settled into their £11.2m Beverly Hills mansion, andDavid and Victoria were regularly snapped with members of Hollywood'selite, such as close pals Tom Cruise and his wife, actress KatieHolmes. [LNB]Galaxy sold more than 300,000 Beckham shirts in 2007 - a 700 per cent increase in sales from the previous year - and merchandise sales more than doubled overall. Brand Beckham was undoubtedly a hit at the tills and in the gossip magazines, but Beckham's performances on the pitch remained lacklustre in 2008. [LNB]Indiscipline mutated into nonchalance and he went from trying too hard to barely trying at all. In 25 games he scored five goals, setting up 10 more. [LNB]But Beckham had his mind on other matters. With Fabio Capello, the England manager, making it clear that he needed to be playing at a higher level to be picked for his country, Beckham joined AC Milan on loan during the MLS off-season. This was no problem in itself - after all, the Galaxy's top scorer and USA star Landon Donovan had arranged a similar deal with Bayern Munich - but Beckham's decision to extend his loan spell and miss the start of the 2009 season was another matter.[LNB] Donovan, 27, told Wahl: 'If someone's paying you more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game. Show up and train hard. Show up and play hard. [LNB]'Maybe he's not a leader, maybe he's not a captain. Fair enough. But at a minimum you should bust your ass every day. That hasn't happened.' [LNB] BECKHAM'S LA TIMES2007Jan: Beckham shocks the football world by announcing he will sign a five-year contract with MLS team LA Galaxy. Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello vows Beckham will never play for Real Madrid again. 'Beckham will train with the team but he won't play,' says the Italian.[LNB]Feb: Beckham scores on return to first-team action with Madrid, a 2-1 win against Real Sociedad.[LNB]May: Beckham recalled to Steve McClaren's England squad.[LNB]June: The midfielder caps four years in Spain with his first La Liga title.[LNB]July: Beckham makes his Galaxy debut as a substitute in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea, but is struggling with an ankle injury.[LNB]Aug: Beckham starts his first game for the Galaxy. He scores to earn his side a place in the SuperLiga final, but sprains the medial ligaments in a knee in the Galaxy's 4-3 loss on penalties to Mexican side Pachuca.[LNB]Oct: Galaxy fail to make the end-of-season play-offs.[LNB]Nov: Beckham features in England matches against Austria (1-0 win) and Croatia (3-2 loss). Ruud Gullit is appointed LA Galaxy boss.[LNB]Quite what else Donovan and Co expected from Beckham is an interesting notion. The gulf between the 34-year-old's phenomenal wage packet and that of Mike Caso and Lance Friesz, who earned just £7,750 a year, is well-documented. It demonstrates just how far removed Beckham's lifestyle was, and still is, from his team-mates. [LNB]The logistics of being a player in the MLS are a world away from what Beckham experienced with Manchester United, Real Madrid and England, and the American league is engineered to promote fairness of opportunity or, to put it another way, mediocrity. [LNB]MLS holds fixtures on FIFA's designated international weekends, meaning the best players will never be available for the whole season. [LNB]The £1.4m salary cap means clubs can only shell out millions of dollars on one 'designated' player. This has become known as the 'Beckham Rule', a loophole that allows the Galaxy to pay the former England captain £4m a year and only count £250,000 of his wages towards their allotted £1.4m. [LNB]The structure makes MLS much more competitive than the Premier League, for example, because the disparity between top and bottom is far less polarised. [LNB]Yet, if sport is about the pursuit of excellence, the MSL is sadly lacking. [LNB]The play-off system sees eight of the 15 teams qualify for the knockout stage, meaning all have an equal chance of taking home the championship. [LNB]Quite how Beckham - one footballer - is expected to transform MLS in such a stifling environment is anyone's guess.[LNB] 2008Jan: The midfielder trains with Arsenal during the MLS off-season.[LNB]April: Beckham scores his first league goal for Galaxy.[LNB]May: Beckham scores with a 70-yard effort against Kansas City Wizards.[LNB]Aug: Gullit resigns as LA Galaxy boss and general manager Alexi Lalas is sacked. Bruce Arena is appointed.[LNB]Oct: AC Milan announce Beckham will join them on loan in January. The Galaxy finish outside the play-offs for the third year running.[LNB]2009Jan: Beckham makes his AC Milan debut and scores in his third appearance for the club.[LNB]Feb: Beckham makes public his wish to move to Milan permanently, but the Galaxy reject the Serie A club's offer.[LNB]March: Wins his 100th England cap in a friendly against France. Beckham's loan with AC Milan is extended until mid-July.[LNB]July: Landon Donovan's criticisms are published in Grant Wahl's TheBeckham Experiment. Beckham returns to Galaxy and is booed and jeeredby fans. He confronts a spectator in the stands.[LNB]'It's so important when you want success in a club, in any sport, you have to have unity,' says Beckham. [LNB]'With Manchester United in '99 it was the best team I have ever been on in the locker room and look what we did. You have to have that to get success and we definitely have that.We all get on, whether it's on the field or off the field. It's important that you have quality around you. [LNB]'That's the biggest difference this year - you have depth with the squad.' [LNB]When Wahl described Beckham's tenure as a Galaxy player as an 'epic disaster', he failed to anticipate the impact new head coach and general manager Bruce Arena would have on the club - and on the England man. Arena, who took the USA to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, brought in 16 new players. He restored the captaincy to Landon Donovan, who went on to win the 2009 MVP award. [LNB]Arena, who has been voted the 2009 MLS coach of year, also got better performances out of Beckham. [LNB]Donovan said: 'The way he's been playing is the David we know, but off the field he's also been great. [LNB]'He's done a lot of things to show that he wants to be here. He took the guys to dinner a couple of weeks ago to celebrate making the play-offs. He's been fantastic.' [LNB]But tomorrow's final will only be Beckham's 15th game for the Galaxy this season. He wasn't named in MLS's All-Star side and has scored just two goals in 2009.[LNB] Sept: England secure qualification to the 2010 World Cup with a 5-1 winover Croatia at Wembley. Beckham comes on as an 81st-minute substitute.[LNB]Oct: LA Galaxy qualify for the MLS play-offs after coming first in the Western Conference.[LNB]NovBeckham confirms he will return to Milan in January for five monthsto give himself 'the best chance possible to make the World Cup squad'. A 2-0 extra-time win against Houston Dynamo puts the Galaxy in the MLSCup final at Qwest Field, Seattle, where they will play Real Salt Lake.[LNB]Beckham's American adventure, sadly, now has little to do with actually playing football. The Galaxy's average attendance went up 17 per cent from 2006 to 2007 and seven per cent the following year, yet fell 22 per cent in 2009, Beckham's best season in a Galaxy shirt. Attendances at away games also fell by 21 per cent. Television viewing figures are equally damning. ESPN2's coverage of the Galaxy' s 2-0 play-off win over Houston Dynamo on November 13, which was marred by two 18-minute power cuts, was watched in just 538,000 homes, attracting 0.5 per cent of the TV audience. Yet this still made it the 'most-watched MLS telecast ever on the network'. [LNB]Seattle is set to host the biggest game of the MLS season, but you wouldn't know it. There has been an encouraging demand for tickets, with 6,000 extra seats put on sale, but there is no frisson of excitement in the Emerald City. Perhaps it's the prospect of watching a final being played on artificial turf. Or the incessant rain.[LNB] A grotty-looking pub by Qwest Field is advertising a meet-'n'-greet with Kasey Keller, the former Tottenham and Fulham goalkeeper, now playing alongside ex-West Ham and Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg for the Seattle Sounders. [LNB]Bruce Arena, meanwhile, can happily sit in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel playing checkers. He is completely anonymous. Football - 'soccer' - just isn't a big deal over here. Beckham insists there is more interest since his arrival, but any increase must be negligible. [LNB]'Definitely there is more interest,' he says. 'It won't happen over five or 10 years, but people are understanding the game and enjoying it.' [LNB]It is all a far cry from Tim Leiweke's prediction in 2007. Leiweke, the chief executive officer of AEG, who own the Galaxy, said: 'David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete has ever had on any sport globally.' [LNB]He hasn't, but Beckham, to his credit, is sticking with it. That's the real success story. A second successful loan spell with AC Milan could see Beckham fulfil his dream of a fourth World Cup with England; then he insists he will return to the States to see out his career with the Galaxy. There is even talk of him buying his own MLS franchise, potentially in Las Vegas or San Diego, when his deal expires in 2011, a purchase on which he would have first refusal under the terms of his contract with the Galaxy. [LNB]Beckham says: 'I always committed myself to the MLS and the whole franchise and I always said I'd see it through. 'It's never a smooth road. There are always a few bumps along the way. In my career there have always been ups and downs - more ups than downs - but that's the way it is. That's life.' [LNB]Say what you like about David Beckham, but he is still here and he still loves playing 'soccer'. [LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People:Steve McClaren, Romeo Beckham, Fabio Capello, David Beckham, Katie Holmes, Cruz Beckham, Tom CruisePlaces:San Diego, Milan, Las Vegas, Seattle, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Croatia, America
