Galaxy needs new plan of attack
When November rolls around and David Beckham leaves town for the last time, what is the Galaxy going to do?
That it has to do something has been made painfully obvious by the team’s lack of success on the field and at the gate in the first couple of weeks of the new Major League Soccer season.
After three games and going into tonight’s match against Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center, the Galaxy is still looking for its first victory of 2009 and has played in front of successively diminishing announced crowds of 18,013, 16,709 and 6,219, the latter for a Tuesday night U.S Open Cup game.
In each case, the figure seemed inflated. There were only 281 in the house half an hour before Tuesday’s kickoff.
Last season, with Beckham in tow, Los Angeles averaged 26,009, and whether that was inflated or not, it was still tops in MLS.
Club officials have blamed the drop-off on the economy, but the economy has not stopped the Seattle Sounders from attracting 32,523 and 28,548 for their first two MLS games, or Toronto FC from extending its string of sellout crowds to 31 with an opening-day attendance of 20,658.
Clearly, it is more than just the economy.
Could it be that Beckham is missed -- at the gate if not on the field?
Since the English midfielder has made clear his intention to return to AC Milan after his July-November cameo appearance with the Galaxy this year, it is not too soon for team owner AEG and Coach Bruce Arena to begin planning for 2010.
This week, the hot rumor was that former Italian international Christian Vieri would soon be winging his way to California. Not so, said the Galaxy, emphatically denying a rumor that started in Italy.
Vieri is 35 and would have fit in with Arena’s over-30 gang, which now numbers nine with the arrival last week of 35-year-old defender Gregg Berhalter. But Vieri, a free-agent former Inter Milan player with no fewer than 14 clubs on his resume, is six years past his prime and would not have created any buzz in Los Angeles.
There are a couple of Brazilians who could do so and one American who could help the Galaxy on the field, but whether AEG and Arena opt to go after, say, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho or DaMarcus Beasley is, for the moment, only a matter of speculation.
Ronaldo, 32, is playing and scoring goals again, this time for Corinthians in Brazil, but while Beckham’s former Real Madrid teammate and friend would no doubt jump at a fat contract dangled in front of him by the Galaxy, he is less likely to do so if Beckham departs as planned.
It also remains to be seen whether Ronaldo can regain the form that made him a World Cup winner in 2002 and the tournament’s all-time top goal scorer in 2006.
Ronaldinho, 29, would have a tremendous impact on and off the field and is one player who could instantly raise the profile of MLS. But Beckham’s AC Milan teammate is focused on playing in next year’s World Cup in South Africa and will not leave Italy before then.
Beasley, meanwhile, is not getting much playing time at Glasgow Rangers and has talked about trying his luck in Spain. Earlier this year, the German club Schalke 04 expressed interest in him, and chances are the U.S. player would prefer to stay in Europe.
But the opportunity to link up again with close friend Landon Donovan could tempt Beasley to California and the Galaxy. The two have a very good on-field understanding, and Arena would be in favor if the price were right.
The trouble is, Beasley, 26, would not create the noise that the Galaxy needs to get the fans back. He won’t sell the jerseys or get the turnstiles clicking and, for AEG, that takes precedence over everything.
Meanwhile, if Coach Carlo Ancelotti leaves AC Milan for Chelsea this summer, as reports in Italy and England suggested Thursday, then Beckham and Ronaldinho might have to rethink their own futures and all bets are off.
--
