THE WAITING GAME
Eight weeks ago, David Beckham was at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, unhappily but willingly receiving three injections in his painfully sprained and ligament-damaged left ankle.
It was the final game of the Spanish season, the league championship was on the line and Beckham was determined to be on the field for Real Madrid no matter what the cost. “I would have done anything to play in that game,” he said.
North American soccer fans are now paying the price.
One month after his much-ballyhooed arrival with the Galaxy, Beckham has played exactly 37 minutes in two token appearances over eight games. Stadiums have been sold out in Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, Washington and Foxborough, Mass., and fans have snapped up tickets that Major League Soccer once could hardly give away.
But Beckham’s ankle injury has disappointed them all.
Unfairly perhaps, the tide is turning as Beckham mania is losing some of its gloss. Four weeks ago, there was nothing but hyperbole; now criticism is creeping into stories about Beckham.
Here, for instance, was how the Associated Press began its story from Foxborough over the weekend after Beckham had spent another game on the sideline: “English megastar David Beckham resumed his tour of American soccer benches on Sunday. . . . “
Alexi Lalas, the Galaxy’s president and general manager, was more or less forced to promise FC Dallas a future friendly game with Beckham in the lineup, to make up for his not traveling last month to Texas for a SuperLiga match because of his ankle injury.
Despite that, MLS teams continue to sell tickets based on Beckham’s being available. The New York Red Bulls have sold 55,000-plus for Saturday’s game, yet Beckham might not play.
As recently as Sunday, the Galaxy was still running TV ads touting Beckham’s suggested participation in Wednesday night’s SuperLiga semifinal against D.C. United at the Home Depot Center. Yet Beckham might not play.
This is not unique to soccer. The San Diego Padres, for instance, recently attracted a sellout crowd hoping to see Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th home run, but Bonds did not play.
Caveat emptor applies in sports as in any other enterprise. But it is particularly galling for soccer fans when they must buy tickets for a block of MLS games simply to see one player and then that player does not play.
Within the Galaxy, there is an air of secrecy about “the ankle.” Assessing how seriously the midfielder is injured and how long he might be sidelined is difficult. Last week, a Galaxy spokesman was asked whether Beckham’s ankle underwent an MRI examination. The team would not answer the question.
The Galaxy has limited access to Beckham to formal news conferences. Team trainer Ivan Pierra is not available for interviews; neither is Beckham’s personal trainer. A Galaxy team doctor also indicated he had been instructed not to say anything.
The Galaxy contends that it is not leading the public on. The team’s medical updates have varied from Beckham is a little better, he might play, Beckham could get a few minutes of playing time, or he is day to day.
There is, obviously, immense pressure on Lalas and Coach Frank Yallop. Both their jobs could be on the line if this Beckham-fueled MLS season turns sour and the Galaxy misses the playoffs -- as is quite possible with the team at 3-7-5 halfway through the year.
For his part, Beckham has been candid about his injury when he does appear in public.
“I sprained it in the England game [on June 6]. Then I played four days after, with it still sprained, for Real Madrid, and pulled the ligaments,” he explained 10 days ago.
“Then I played in the last game of the season with Real Madrid with three injections to numb my ankle. So you can imagine what my ankle looked like after the game. I ripped the ligaments in that last game, so it was a bit of a mess.”
After Beckham sat out five of his first six Galaxy games, one team official said that he might have “to take one for the team” and get on the field despite the injury. Beckham then played 21 minutes against D.C. United in Washington on Thursday. The ankle again “flared up” after that game and Beckham stayed on the bench Sunday.
Beckham acknowledges that the three ankle-numbing injections he took in Spain have not helped his MLS launch.
“It wasn’t healthy,” he said. “It wasn’t maybe the right thing to do, long-term, but I did it and at the end of the day I’m glad I did it because I played in the game for 55 minutes and we ended up winning the league.”
Still, the reservoir of fan interest in Beckham runs deep. The team’s recent charter flight to Toronto was five hours late and it was just before 2 a.m. when the bleary-eyed players arrived at their hotel. There were TV cameras and autograph-seeking fans crowding the sidewalk waiting for Beckham even at that hour.
Compare that to the next morning’s Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper, in which columnist Brian Milner suggested that “the league and its franchises are about to pay a heavy price in fan disillusionment for the overhyping of an aging soccer player with a history of injuries.”
Beckham’s Galaxy teammates, meanwhile, resent the criticism that is being directed his way, pointing out that they see on a daily basis how hard he is working to overcome the ankle injury and how his inability to contribute to the team is weighing on him. “He’s 10 times more frustrated than any fan or any writer who’s kind of slandering him right now,” said midfielder Kyle Martino.
“He’s in the training room more than anyone else. It isn’t like he’s sitting in his Beverly Hills house, relaxing, sipping mai-tais, just laughing at everyone. He’s really frustrated. He wants to be out there playing.”
And from midfield veteran Pete Vagenas: “I mean, we’re all trying to build something here. I wish people could see the condition of his ankle. I know David has been pushing to play, even on one leg. But in the end it’s better to get him healthy.”
So has Beckham’s first month in MLS been a disaster?
“I think it would be very premature to consider it disastrous,” said goalkeeper Joe Cannon. “He’s signed for five years, so there’s no rush.”
Boston Globe columnist John Powers wrote Monday that “Beckham has done what he was brought in to do, which is to create buzz outside of the sport.”
That and to sell jerseys.
According to MLS Commissioner Don Garber, merchandise sales are up 300% league-wide this season and up 700% for the Galaxy, thanks to Beckham.
Should the Galaxy have done a better job in checking out Beckham’s injury before he arrived in California? Should it have sent a team doctor to Europe to check on his ankle?
“It was very important for him to have time with his family and to have time to decompress from what I think everybody would agree was a pretty crazy year for him,” Lalas said. “We dealt with where he was when he got to us. We were given information. We were given X-rays and everything like that. There have been no surprises in terms of his injury. It’s just a situation that takes time.”
And the criticism now coming the Galaxy’s way?
“We want him to be on the field as much as he wants to be on the field,” Lalas said. “I think it’s pretty evident that this is not something he’s enjoying. He’ll be on the field when he’s ready.”
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