During the last few years of the North American Soccer League, we saw dozens of good foreign players in their early thirties come over to play here. Most of them played hard, earned their money and entertained the public. Others took the NASL as a vacation, did the least they had to do to justify their paychecks, knowing that they were in the last years of their career, that their best glory days had passed.
That’s understandable behavior, of course, especially for European players trying to adapt to the heat of an American summer, but it didn’t please the fans, who wanted maximum effort, not idleness. And I daresay now that some observers of the game have wondered how “Goldenballs”, as David Beckham is affectionately referred to, is going to play out what are probably his last five years of decent competition. (The nickname comes presumably from his use of gold-painted soccer balls during practice.)
Is he going to work hard and show his best stuff, or is he going to adapt to the lower standard of play in Major League Soccer, and do the minimum necessary to satisfy his employers. Will it be vigor, or vacation? These last few months, we have seen Beckham at work, and he has given us an indication of both his game and his character. Let’s take a look to see what we can expect . . .
2006 was not a good year for the Real Madrid midfielder/winger. England folded at the World Cup, and Beckham was criticized loud and long for his performances. The British press said he was finished as a top-class and international player. In true British fashion, when the team fails, the leader of the team resigns, and so Beckham did the honorable thing and resigned as captain of England.
He did not think however, that the new national team coach was going to drop him from the squad. When Steve McClaren’s axe fell, the player was bitterly disappointed, especially since he was within half-a-dozen games of earning his one-hundredth cap for his country. Maybe the press was right; Beckham was finished.
After the World Cup, he lost his place on the Real Madrid team, coming on only as a bit-player in league matches. He then sought pastures new, figuring his contract at Real would not be renewed. Maybe his wife was pressuring him to go to the U.S. so that she could revive her own career as an entertainer.
Then strange things began to happen. The coach at Real was so upset that Beckham was going to leave without first telling the Spanish club, he declared that he would never play for Madrid again. He could train for the rest of the season, but he would not play. The coach questioned the player’s motivation. It did sound as though Beckham’s European career was essentially over.
But misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows, and when the misery is mutual, the liaisons can be more intense than anticipated. So it was at Real, where injuries forced Fabio Capello to reinstate Beckham, who was himself injured in April. The player returned intense, dedicated himself to his fitness and strength, so much so that in performance after performance, he drove Real towards what will be their first championship since 2003.
Capello and the England team manager, Steve McClaren, couldn’t help but notice the work he was doing. Beckham became a forgiven starter for Real, leading them to five victories and a draw in their last six matches, and was then called back to play for England against Brazil and in a crucial qualifying match for the European championship. Of the four goals scored by England in those two matches, three of them were set up by Beckham, who was named man-of-the-match against Estonia. His career is far from over at the highest level.
It’s all about attitude, or as they say in England: “bottle”. You can read the origin of that term here. Beckham simply is not ready to be cast aside as a player at the top level. Now negotiations are going on about the possibility of his continuing to play for England after he joins the Los Angeles Galaxy in July.
