There’s Real Criticism of Beckham
Whither David Beckham?
That’s the question being asked in Spain and England these days as the midfielder’s not-quite-one-year honeymoon with Real Madrid shows signs of wearing a little thin.
The bloom is off the English rose, and just as there are those in Madrid who want to see him start packing, there are those in London who would love to see him come home.
Take Enrique Sobrino.
Sobrino is a 35-year-old lawyer who might or might not run for the presidency of Real Madrid. The way he is talking, he already is testing campaign rhetoric. Just listen:
“Beckham is a great player, but all this stuff about him as a celebrity is overshadowing him as a footballer,” Sobrino told England’s Sun tabloid, which as far as achieving credibility goes is hardly the best place to start a campaign.
Nonetheless, Sobrino persevered.
“The dressing room has suffered as a result of all the scandal about Beckham. There is too much written about players’ wives and their lovers and this is very damaging to the image of the club.
“In my plan, if I became president, as I have said a number of times, I would listen to offers for David Beckham.”
Those offers might not result in the financial windfall Sobrino imagines.
Real Madrid paid $41.3 million for Beckham when it acquired him from Manchester United in June.
Chelsea is said to be interested. The club’s Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, is the richest man in England, according to London’s Sunday Times, and is just about the only person who wants and can afford Beckham.
But billionaire Abramovich is rich for a reason.
English newspapers have reported that he would not offer more than $18 million for Beckham, believing that no rival club in England could afford that and Beckham’s $36-million-a-year paycheck.
Beckham, 28, remains under contract until 2007 and Real Madrid’s incumbent president, Florentino Perez, appears well positioned to repulse any challenge by Sobrino, who is regarded as a lightweight even in Spain.
Much depends on whether Sobrino’s message resonates with fans.
“Too many of the stars of Real Madrid are appearing in the news for all the wrong reasons,” he told the Sun. “All this stuff about Beckham and parties is something people here don’t like.
“It has caused a bad atmosphere around the dressing room, as demonstrated by recent defeats. We want our players to be stars for footballing reasons, and only for footballing reasons.”
Knocked out of the European Champions League when it squandered a three-goal lead against AS Monaco in the quarterfinals, and knocked out of the Copa del Rey when it lost to Real Zaragoza in the final, Real Madrid’s only hope for a trophy now rests with the Spanish league.
Fan frustration already has surfaced. There was a 90-foot banner strung up at Real’s training ground recently. The message to the players was blunt: “For you lot, whores and money; for us, indignation and repression.”
If Beckham and company don’t win the league title, they might be Beckham and company no more.
Chelsea awaits. But so does Arsenal. And AC Milan.
Whither David Beckham? The answer will be a while in coming.
The ‘Wurst of Times
Fans who intend going to Germany in 2006 to enjoy the soccer, the beer and the sausage -- not necessarily in that order -- had best think again.
Because FIFA counts an American brewing company and an American hamburger chain among its World Cup sponsors, those companies have exclusive rights to sell their products in an around the World Cup stadiums.
Fortunately, at least two cities, Munich and Nuremberg, plan to set up “fan villages” outside FIFA’s exclusivity zone where real beer and real wurst will be served.
Freddy-mania
When Freddy Adu has achieved as much in his career as Cobi Jones has in his, then it will be time to praise the player to the rafters.
Until then, he is merely a 14-year-old with a lot of promise.
For the moment, however, Freddy-mania has gone too far.
It reached ridiculous proportions last week when Rasheed Bawa, no less a figure than Ghana’s minister of Education, Youth and Sports, tried to co-opt the youngster.
“The fact that the Americans have been profiling him on CNN and other world media does not mean that the Ghanaian government will not fight for him,” Bawa told the website www.KickOffNigeria.com in Lagos, Nigeria.
“Even when they themselves speak of him, they still refer to him as a Ghanaian, which means they recognize the fact the he is one of ours.”
Bawa said Ghana wants Adu, who was born in Tema, Ghana, but has lived in the U.S. since he was 8, to represent it in World Cup qualifying.
Sure, like that’s going to happen.
History Lesson
Exeter City is a small club plodding along in the lower regions of English soccer -- not in the 20-team Premier League, not in the 72-team Football League, but in the far-less-hallowed confines of the Conference League, where it has to fight off creditors as well as opposing teams.
But 90 years ago Exeter City made an investment that will pay huge dividends next month -- when it will play host to none other than Brazil at its St James Park ground in Exeter.
On July 21, 1914, Exeter City became the first professional team to play Brazil, tying the South Americans, 3-3, at Fluminense’s home field in Rio de Janeiro.
Exeter City is celebrating its centenary this year and club officials, figuring they had nothing to lose by asking, invited five-time world champion Brazil to take part.
“Having been instrumental in helping to establish football in Brazil, we met the CBF” and proposed a match, Ian Huxham, Exeter’s managing director said on the team’s website.
Brazil accepted, but with a difference. It will send a team made up of players from its 1994 World Cup-winning side, players now in their 30s and in some cases 40s, and will play Exeter on May 30 in what is sure to be a memorable occasion for the club.
Brazil Masters
The veterans of 1994 are no slouches. Just ask the Formula One drivers.
The Brazilians built a 5-1 first-half lead against a team of drivers Wednesday at Imola, Italy, in a charity match to benefit the Ayrton Senna foundation.
“It was pretty obvious after the first couple of minutes that we were in trouble,” said world champion Michael Schumacher.
Some Brazilians switched sides in the second half to even things up and the game ended in a 5-5 tie.
“When I was a young child I wondered whether perhaps I could be a footballer,” Brazilian driver Felipe Massa told Reuters. “Now I have the answer.”
