David Beckham's bid to redefine soccer's place in the US sports landscape begins in earnest today, when the Los Angeles Galaxy introduce their sleek European import.
The former England captain and his pop-star wife Victoria arrive amid a swirl of publicity befitting their new Hollywood home.
But it will likely be Beckham's abilities on the pitch that determine whether his tenure in the US will ultimately be judged an experiment or an era in Major League Soccer's development.
PHOTO: AP
In the US Beckham will face a twin challenge -- infusing oft-overlooked soccer with enough glamor to attract new fans, while playing at a level high enough to satisfy serious sports spectators.
Some 14.5 million Americans play soccer, but its popularity pales in comparison to the top three sports: American football, basketball and baseball.
He isn't the first charismatic star to try to bring soccer to a mainstream US audience.
Despite the excitement of landing all-time great Pele in the 1970s, the North American Soccer League went bankrupt.
Even so, Galaxy president and former US international Alexi Lalas believes Beckham can succeed.
"Beckham, unlike any other player, transcends all boundaries," Lalas said. "I would argue that whether you are a housewife from Orange County or a person of Mexican heritage living in Los Angeles, you know who Beckham is."
Beckham, 32, is to be introduced by the Galaxy at the club's Home Depot Center facility in the south Los Angeles suburbs today.
The midfielder's first game for Los Angeles will be an exhibition match against Chelsea, who are preparing for the upcoming Premiership season with a tour of the US.
When Beckham inked a five-year contract with the Galaxy in January it was widely seen as a money-making move by a player whose best days were behind him.
While he will earn a salary of US$5.5 million, Beckham's deal could eventually be worth up to US$250 million in profit-sharing and sponsorship deals.
Since January, however, Beckham has been recalled by England, and helped Real Madrid to claim the Spanish League title last month.
Beckham himself has said he believes he could have continued to thrive in Europe.
"I felt capable of staying for longer at Real," Beckham said. "I could have still played for three more seasons at the highest level. But after the club told me in January that they did not want to renew my contract, I took this decision."
Certainly Beckham is switching to a lesser competition -- and to a team that is the second worst in the league with just three victories in 12 games.
Beckham knows there is a danger that the massive build-up may make for an inevitable let-down.
"People probably do think they're going to see me turn out, and we'll win our first game 10-0," Beckham told the Sun newspaper. "That's one thing I'm worried about. I'm not a player who will run past 10 players and score three or four goals. My game is about working hard and being a team player."
Thai women’s badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first known doping case at the Asian Games in Japan yesterday, testers said. The 19-year-old returned a positive test for banned substance furosemide and has been provisionally suspended, the International Testing Agency said. The teenager, ranked 18th in the world and regarded as a rising star back home, had been due to face China on Tuesday. The first full day of badminton action at Asia’s biggest sporting spectacular was on Sunday. “The athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching or participating in any activity during the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026,” the ITA said. The agency noted
Japan has been starved of swimming success in recent times but with the Olympics two years away junk food-loving teenager Shin Ohashi has emerged as their next big hope. The 17-year-old, who stands just 169cm, has posted the two fastest 200m breaststroke times in the world this year and is aiming for the world record at this year’s Asian Games. Earlier this year he came within almost a second of the 2:05.48 record held by China’s Qin Haiyang. Ohashi has already won gold at the Asian Games in the 100m breaststroke after a dead heat with China’s Dong Zhihao, beating Qin into third
A NEW SEASON: The Games’ MMA bouts bear a limited resemblance to American UFC fights, sparing the cage, but organizers hope this is a step forward A sport once banned in much of the US and famously decried as “human cockfighting” by a high-profile politician is making an ambitious play for the Olympics. Mixed Martial Arts, known as MMA, is making its Asian Games debut this week in Japan — a milestone that fighters and organizers hope leads to bigger things. Galastein Tan, director general of the Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts, said being at the Asian Games was “a big step.” “As for any sport, the inclusion in the continental games is critical,” he said. “Obviously the inclusion means that you already have a good governance structure,
THREE BRONZES: Martial artists dominated Taiwan’s gains for Tuesday, while the baseball team delivered Thailand a thunderous 15-0 shellacking that morning Taiwanese athletes at the Asian Games collected another three bronze medals yesterday, bringing their medals to nine, leaving them in 10th place overall as of yesterday evening, trailing Uzbekistan and leading Iran. Taiwan’s baseball team roared back from a 5-0 defeat by South Korea on Monday to squash Thailand 15-0 as they head into their game today against Hong Kong at 6:30pm at the Games in Japan. KARATE The women’s team kata squad and men’s kumite competitor Chung Meng-yu won bronze medals yesterday. The 34-year-old Chien Hui-hsuan, who won bronze in the women’s individual kata event on Sunday, was joined by
RSS