The Other Football

Posted by Matt Cipriano | 3 Comments

So, as you may have heard, David Beckham is coming to America. For those of you who haven’t heard, he’s a soccer player or, as the rest of the world calls them, a footballer.

American Madness’s friend and frequent commenter Jason had this to say from his expat home in Spain:

On Sunday David Beckham and Real Madrid won their 30^th Championship in the Spanish Liga. This was especially sweet for Beckham who, since joining the club in 2003, had yet to win a single title with the club and had already decided to terminate his contract at the end of the season and join the L.A. Galaxy midway through the MLS season.

Now this summer Beckham can make his move to California on a high note and perhaps help to increase popularity for soccer in the United States. That is, of course, his stated goal (the 5-year, $250M contract is probably just a sweetener). He claims that he wants to go to a place where soccer is not especially popular in adult life (most American children play the sport until they reach pre-adolescence) and do what he can to keep kids interested in the game.

Whether he’s being sincere or not, I have no doubt that Beckham’s participation in MLS can only help the popularity of the sport in the U.S. He’s one of the most recognizable sports stars in the world. Even many Americans know his name, if for no other reason than because he’s married to Posh Spice and is good friends with Tom Cruise.

Beckham’s new teammates will include old U.S. National Team regular Cobi Jones (the little guy with the dreads – now 37 years old and in his final year in MLS – the only founding MLS player to stay with the same team his entire career) and current Nats regular Landon Donovan, who has been scorching this year for the Red, White and Blue, regaining some of the form he seemed to have lost in last year’s World Cup.

The naysayers had written off David Beckham only a few months ago when he’d been benched by Real Madrid’s trainer and the new English National Team head coach had made it clear that Beckham no longer had a place with the Nats. Recently, however, he’s been on fire with Madrid and was even called back to the English Nationals for two key qualifying matches for the 2008 European Championships where he played with the same panache he’s demonstrated in his distinguished career.

Assuming he continues to play as he has recently, Beckham in the midfield feeding balls up through open space to Donovan in the front will create potential for a lethal combination of talent. More importantly than that from where I stand is the possibility that if he can connect with Beckham on the field, Donovan will develop and mature into the player he has the talent to become. Then maybe, just maybe, come time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa we’ll have a solid striker who will be feared by other teams almost as much as a Zidane, a Ronaldinho or a Wayne Rooney (lofty goals, indeed, but I only hope for the best with the U.S. National Team).

Now, in his writing, Jason addresses a few issues: Beckham’s popularity, MLS soccer’s lack of popularity and the U.S. National Team’s chance at a World Cup. I admit, on my first reading I was a skeptic. Despite Beckham’s popularity worldwide, he still plays soccer, a sport which has been struggling so much in the U.S. that corporations like Red Bull have been able to pony up the money to buy a team (in fairness, the NY Red Bulls is a much better name then the Metro Stars, which was kind of lame). I figured Beckham wasn’t going to make a dent too much one way or another.

In a related matter I have been trying to get some NY Red Bull tickets because I do like soccer and I know a guy who knows a guy… Anyway, as it turns out the Red Bulls are playing the LA Galaxy in August. For a team that has had seats available for almost every game (in fact, you can still buy tickets for all of their other games) that game against the LA Galaxy (and David Beckham) is already sold out, it will probably be their only sold out game of the year.

While Beckham’s face and fame may boost ticket sales for one Red Bulls game and any other game the LA Galaxy play, will this translate into increased ticket sales across the board? I doubt it. I doubt if there is even another soccer player out there who could draw the crowds Beckham is bound to draw. It seems like his hire might just end up as one large somewhat successful publicity stunt. Now Beckham just needs to live up to his reputation.

Any chance for the U.S. Team to go anywhere in the World Cup in 2010? Still slim to none. Remember, other countries actually support their teams. When the World Cup roles around we always seem a little surprised we actually have a soccer team. Maybe one day we’ll have picked up on this “fad” that has swept the world (and yet somehow seems to have missed the U.S.) and actually have a decent team that makes it somewhere as opposed to being eliminated in the first round.

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