Well well well, the excessive hype and verbal diarrhea continues from the former US stopper - Alexi Lalas. As David Beckham ends his European club career, at least for now, and leaves for the greener fields of the MLS there are those in Europe who claim Beckham is heading into semi-retirement by switching from Spain to the US.
First, I do believe that Beckham's move to the MLS was, at the time it was made, a semi-retirement decision. Let us not forget that when Beckham signed with the LA Donovans, he was rotting on the Real Madrid bench and had been told by the English national team that he was not longer going to wear the three lions. Additionally, no other major club had made any offers or shown any interest in signing the former England captain. There were rumors that Tottenham may take a nibble, but that was about it. How things have changed in a few months. Beckham was re-inserted into the line up by Capello (who had to eat his words), a move to shake up his team which allow Real to surge end of season to the league title.
Beckham's play, and England's struggles, forced another manager to eat crow. McClaren had to go back on his foolish statements of never calling up the bleached blond talisman. McClaren, desperate to qualify for the Euro as well as save his neck, saw Beckham as his savior. On the short term, it would appear to have worked. Beckham being influential in the friendly against Brazil and in the qualifier against soccer power Estonia. Lets face it, had his recent form been evident all season Beckham would have either resigned with Real Madrid or headed to another European club (maybe he would have been exiled to Fenebache like Roberto Carlos...then again the MLS might be a safer option than the cauldron of Istanbul football). The rumors that Beckham and his agent tried to opt of his contract are indicators of his desire to remain at high level football.Having said that, I find Lalas' comments quite funny, although I am sure he is serious when he says them. I realize that Lalas needs to defend his team and league. However, lets not push the limits on common sense.
The MLS "on par" with the Premiership? Are you kidding me? Would the MLS champs, Houston, survive in the Prem? I am not even talking about contending, I mean survive. I doubt it. Does Lalas watch the Premiership, he claims that those that put down the MLS are not watching, maybe he is not watching the English league.
I realize that Lalas is not making the assertion that Houston Dinosaurs would compete in the Prem, but he did say " honestly believe if you took a helicopter and grabbed a bunch of MLS players and took them to the perceived best league in the world they wouldn't miss a beat and the fans wouldn't notice any drop in quality." Again, there is no doubt that you take a handful of players and sow them into the Prem they can hold their own, such as McBride, Howard, Dempsey and Freidel. But a full team....doubtful, even a team of all stars. And before I hear, "well the all stars did beat Fulham" .... again please. Teams that come to the US in the summer for their tours, are not even close to in season form and leverage the time in the US to run around, drink beer, and pick up American Coeds. They do not want to pick up any injuries and see what their youth talent can do. One game does not equate what a team would have to endure playing a full Prem season, including FA and Carling cup games.
Finally, Angel is the new "star" of the MLS....this is the same Angel that was relegated to the bench in favor of John Carew......with Aston Villa, not Liverpool or Arsenal. So basically an out of form Columbian is the star of your league and yet you think that it remains on par with the Premier league. Oh yeah, and lets not forget Captain America, Claudio Reyna. Reyna had a very respectable career in Europe playing for the likes of Manchester City and Rangers, but he came back to the MLS when he realized that European clubs were not lining up to sign him.
Off the top of my head here are the top 5 players from each league (again this is leaves plenty of room for debate, I realize this list is just an ad lib):
MLS - Angel, Donovan, Twellman, DeRosario and EJohnson
Premiership - Ronaldo, Rooney, Essein, Drogba, and Cesc
Here are the youngsters being touted:
MLS - Freddie Adu
Premiership - Theo Walcott
Hmmmm....if there is such a difference between the top five how would the rest of the league look in comparison (then again maybe Lalas believes that Donovan is "on par" with Ronaldo)?
Now let's look at England vs US in the World Cup the past 4 tournaments. Lalas points out to 2 quarter finals to one, yet the English ones were "lackluster." Getting to the 1/4 finals is getting to the 1/4 finals. And I rather not get into the whole 2002 World Cup run by the US.....but for statistics - World Cups played - 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006
US National team:
- 15 games played
- 3 Wins (.200 winning percentage)
- 3 Draws
- 9 Losses
- 13 goals scored (0.86 goals per game)
- 22 goals conceded (1.46 goals per game)
- Finishing - 14th, 32nd (last place), 8th and 25th
- 1994 - did not qualify (of course the 1994 US team had Lalas and they were the hosts...)
- 14 Games played
- 7 Wins (.500 winning percentage)
- 5 Draws
- 2 Losses
- 19 goals scored (1.35 goals per game)
- 9 goals conceded (0.64 goals per game)
- Finishing - 2nd Round, 1/4 final. 1/4 final
Finally, maybe Lalas is correct in stating that Beckham will be bigger than Jordan or Tiger Woods....or maybe not. Not to say that Beckham is not on the same marketing level as Woods or Jordan, but to state that "David Beckham is at an entirely different level." Again, sounds like Lalas trying real hard to pump up his league.
While I understand what Lalas is trying to do, maybe he needs to stop acting
like a complete yahoo. He should talk about the value having Beckham and others will be for the MLS, but to start comparing the MLS to European leagues is ridiculous and really makes him appear completely void of any grasp of reality. Maybe a start would be to have the MLS champions play in the Copa Libertadores, see how they fair.Well, Lalas is making for good print with his verbal diarrhea...I wonder if Beckham realizes that the bar has been raised even higher and that what he thought would be a good semi pro league to come to, play a few games, get paid lots of money and allow your talented wife to get into acting is now really the same league as the Premiership.
David bring your A game, the Galaxy vs Revolution games should remind you of the Manchester United vs Arsenal matches or the Real Madrid - Barca matches......
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