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Canales Daily: No Jeers Or Cheers For Beckham
There's not a good reason to jeer David Beckham when he comes back to the Galaxy - but the main cause to cheer him on - his promise to support the league he played for, is also gone. Now all that is left to react to is how he plays in the next few months.
Jun 8, 2009 11:06:35 PM
By Andrea Canales
I don’t really think that David Beckham deserves to be booed upon his return to Major League Soccer.
He hasn’t done anything evil, or in fact, anything that isn’t understandable. It’s only human to want to escape a bad situation (the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy) for a better one (the glitz and glamour of AC Milan).
The idea of needing to be at Milan in order to continue his career with England – well, that’s a bit sketchy for two reasons.
One, Beckham was getting called in to England’s games while still playing with the Galaxy, so it’s not as if the move to Milan needed to happen for him to get called in. Sure, he needed games during the MLS offseason, but there’s no reason to believe that he couldn’t have returned to the Galaxy in March as originally scheduled and still been brought in by Fabio Capello for that vital bench/substitute role Beckham now plays for England.
Two, it really doesn’t make sense that if Beckham needed to be playing his career at the “highest level”, (as Beckham put it) in order to continue his England call-ups, to come to MLS in the first place. If MLS wasn’t a high enough level, and the national team was so important to Beckham, why go there in the first place?
“People might think the MLS is not as tough or high up as some of the other leagues in the world, but we proved tonight and also proved against Celtic in the All-Star game that these players have got class,” David Beckham, 2007, after the Galaxy played Chelsea in an exhibition game which was Beckham’s first outing with his new club.
That same evening, Beckham also said, “I hope my arrival on the team had a positive affect on the players; I want to affect it in a good way. I’ll be working hard to get fit. I’m really looking forward to being part of this for the next five years.”
The next five years – no one can say that Beckham didn’t know what he was in for – he signed up for that amount of time.
People in the U.S. believed it. Many here in America don’t understand soccer all that well, but they know celebrity when they see it, and most knew that Beckham was taking a chance and a gamble on the U.S. league. That’s part of the reason that Beckham drew so many crowds and cheers (along with the boos, of course, from die-hard fans who could never cheer a rival). People believed he wanted to be here to change the game for the better.
Jose Mourinho did, at least. Here’s what he said about Beckham after that Chelsea match. “He has a chance to make a difference, to make soccer better and to make Americans fall in love with the game. For me, he’s the one to do that, to make that contribution to the United States.”
It’s not a terrible, horrible, thing that Beckham no longer wants that role. It probably was harder work than he expected. He’s essentially handing back the hero’s cape and moving on to AC Milan to just do his own thing, as many professional athletes do.
The fact that Beckham doesn’t want to go out of his way any more to do anything good for MLS doesn’t really mean he’s doing something bad to the league. Does his not wanting to help MLS progress any more actually hurt the league? That’s debatable.
What really isn’t is that Beckham certainly doesn’t wish MLS ill as he checks in for one final stop on his ride back to Europe. So don’t bother to boo him, that is undeserved.
So are the cheers, however. Until and unless Beckham’s play on the field merits it, there’s no reason to laud Beckham for merely showing up months after the league already resumed play.
He should only be judged on his performance as a player, now, because he’s abdicated that role as an ambassador for MLS.
Turns out Mourinho was wrong. “Beckham will be for them not just another player, but also an inspiration,” he said.
No, Beckham is really just another player now, as it is hard to inspire when you’re not even around. So no cheers or boos based on who he is, just watch and react to what he does.
He’s actually still a fine player, and there are a few months left in MLS to appreciate Beckham merely for that.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com’s MLS page.
I don’t really think that David Beckham deserves to be booed upon his return to Major League Soccer.
He hasn’t done anything evil, or in fact, anything that isn’t understandable. It’s only human to want to escape a bad situation (the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy) for a better one (the glitz and glamour of AC Milan).
The idea of needing to be at Milan in order to continue his career with England – well, that’s a bit sketchy for two reasons.
One, Beckham was getting called in to England’s games while still playing with the Galaxy, so it’s not as if the move to Milan needed to happen for him to get called in. Sure, he needed games during the MLS offseason, but there’s no reason to believe that he couldn’t have returned to the Galaxy in March as originally scheduled and still been brought in by Fabio Capello for that vital bench/substitute role Beckham now plays for England.
Two, it really doesn’t make sense that if Beckham needed to be playing his career at the “highest level”, (as Beckham put it) in order to continue his England call-ups, to come to MLS in the first place. If MLS wasn’t a high enough level, and the national team was so important to Beckham, why go there in the first place?
“People might think the MLS is not as tough or high up as some of the other leagues in the world, but we proved tonight and also proved against Celtic in the All-Star game that these players have got class,” David Beckham, 2007, after the Galaxy played Chelsea in an exhibition game which was Beckham’s first outing with his new club.
That same evening, Beckham also said, “I hope my arrival on the team had a positive affect on the players; I want to affect it in a good way. I’ll be working hard to get fit. I’m really looking forward to being part of this for the next five years.”
The next five years – no one can say that Beckham didn’t know what he was in for – he signed up for that amount of time.
People in the U.S. believed it. Many here in America don’t understand soccer all that well, but they know celebrity when they see it, and most knew that Beckham was taking a chance and a gamble on the U.S. league. That’s part of the reason that Beckham drew so many crowds and cheers (along with the boos, of course, from die-hard fans who could never cheer a rival). People believed he wanted to be here to change the game for the better.
Jose Mourinho did, at least. Here’s what he said about Beckham after that Chelsea match. “He has a chance to make a difference, to make soccer better and to make Americans fall in love with the game. For me, he’s the one to do that, to make that contribution to the United States.”
It’s not a terrible, horrible, thing that Beckham no longer wants that role. It probably was harder work than he expected. He’s essentially handing back the hero’s cape and moving on to AC Milan to just do his own thing, as many professional athletes do.
The fact that Beckham doesn’t want to go out of his way any more to do anything good for MLS doesn’t really mean he’s doing something bad to the league. Does his not wanting to help MLS progress any more actually hurt the league? That’s debatable.
What really isn’t is that Beckham certainly doesn’t wish MLS ill as he checks in for one final stop on his ride back to Europe. So don’t bother to boo him, that is undeserved.
So are the cheers, however. Until and unless Beckham’s play on the field merits it, there’s no reason to laud Beckham for merely showing up months after the league already resumed play.
He should only be judged on his performance as a player, now, because he’s abdicated that role as an ambassador for MLS.
Turns out Mourinho was wrong. “Beckham will be for them not just another player, but also an inspiration,” he said.
No, Beckham is really just another player now, as it is hard to inspire when you’re not even around. So no cheers or boos based on who he is, just watch and react to what he does.
He’s actually still a fine player, and there are a few months left in MLS to appreciate Beckham merely for that.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com’s MLS page.
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