Goodbye Madrid and hello Hollywood.
When I first found out last week that international soccer poster boy David Beckham had decided to leave Real Madrid for $250 million dollars and a spot in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s starting lineup, I could hardly contain my consternation.
Beckham was heralded as the soccer world’s Next Big Thing in the early ’90s, when he played for Manchester United, married a Spice Girl and helped the Reds to the treble in 1999.
Sadly, Beckham’s transfer to Madrid in 2003 was the beginning of the end for a soccer star whom many pundits now argue is overpaid, overhyped and undertalented.
Fast forward four years, and Beckham is now a shell of his former self.
He stepped down as England captain after an unfulfilling World Cup 2006 campaign. Then in August last year, Beckham was dropped from the English national squad completely. And this season he has only started five out of 18 matches for Real Madrid.
It seemed as if things couldn’t get any worse for Mr. Posh Spice.
Then he signed with the Galaxy, which in my opinion, takes his soccer career to a whole new low. I couldn’t figure out why he’d opt to play for a Major League Soccer team instead of trying to revive his flagging career at one of the smaller – but still infinitely more prestigious – European teams.
Rumors of offers from French, Italian and English clubs are floating all over the Internet. Slumping career aside, Beckham is still a brand name. He could definitely have signed with another English Premier League club.
But no. Instead he opted to join the Galaxy, and in doing so, chose the path that many international soccer stars take when they are in the twilight of their careers.
It happened in 1974, when Brazilian soccer legend Pelé came out of retirement to play for the New York Cosmos. Then in 1977, German World Cup hero Franz “The Kaiser” Beckenbauer also joined the Cosmos at the end of his career.
The United States domestic soccer league is where European legends come to die. So why would someone of Beckham’s caliber come and play here instead of trying to mount a European revival?
Shop talk with Oregon coach Tara Erickson and a few fellow soccer aficionados revealed some semblance of logic in what seemed to me to be an entirely irrational move.
“I wouldn’t liken Beckham playing here to what Mia Hamm and the US women’s soccer team did (when they won the Women’s World Cup in 1999) because that was team-based, around that group of women and the fact that they were American,” Erickson said. “But having a foreigner of his caliber playing here, this is more for the game of soccer. He’s going to be the man on that team, and everyone in America is going to know who he is and take an interest.”
By opting to play for the Galaxy, Becks chose to be the best of the worst instead of the worst of the best – a level he seemed mired in while warming the bench for Madrid this season. In addition, the $250 million that he’ll get with the Galaxy is much more than he could ever hope for with any of the European clubs and their star-studded lineups.
But beyond that, as Erickson pointed out, Beckham’s ‘sacrifice’ could revolutionize American soccer by being the catalyst that finally establishes its legitimacy as a major sport in this country.
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