Soccer comes to America! (again)

I had decided not to address David Beckham's debut on my blog. But when I logged in to post the entry I wrote about taxonomy (see below, it's fascinating, honest), I just couldn't leave well enough alone. Since just about everything I write about on here lately other than moving to Vermont is either about music or soccer, it seemed that I had to say something. And since I actually spent the time to watch an exhibition match that featured the LA Galaxy, I should get something out of it (even if you, my loyal readers, don't).

So unless you live under a rock, you undoubtedly know that David Beckham has arrived in the US to save soccer. His first game was an exhibition by his new team, the LA Galaxy, against the British powerhouse Chelsea. It's a bit of a cliche to say it, but Chelsea are like the Yankees of soccer. I was actually surprised with the scrappy play of the Galaxy, but things fell apart for them in the second half when Chelsea started emptying their bench. With fresh players who were still better than most of the Galaxy's, their victory was inevitable (although the 1-0 final is a moral victory for the Galaxy.) Overall, the game itself was pretty dull. As Anne put it, no one who tuned in was going to be converted to being a soccer fan after that game.

But who am I kidding, I wasn't watching the game because I cared about the final score. I wanted to see David Beckham take a corner kick. Because he has a bum ankle, he didn't start, but he did come on in about the 75th minute. The highlight for me in the final minute. Finally, the Galaxy had an opportunity for a corner. Pretty-boy Landon Donovan usually takes the corners for the Galaxy, so it was really interesting to see how this played out. Landon picked up the ball and set it in the corner, then looked up and saw Beckham jogging toward him. He then trotted out onto the field, while Beckham took his position, adjusted the ball, and made the kick. I really had to wonder what was going through Landon's mind at that moment. The two possibilities to me are that he was as excited as a little puppy to be David Beckham's water carrier, or he was resentful that there's a new -- much brighter -- star in town. Judging by the look in his face for most of the game, I guess the latter.

On a related note, we rented the documentary "Once in a Lifetime" the evening after the game. It's about the New York Cosmos of the old NASL and how they spent gobs of money on star players (most notably Pele) and made the US a soccer-mad nation very briefly, even selling out Giants stadium a couple of times, before the whole thing collapsed through overspending and mismanagement. The film itself wasn't great, but it was an interesting history lesson, especially given the arrival of Becks on our shores.