March 3, 2009
With news that David Beckham will remain with AC Milan through the end of their 2008-09 season before re-joining the LA Galaxy during the summer transfer window, I have to say that the David Beckham Experiment in LA will go down as a failure when Beckham opts out of his contract at the end of the 2009 MLS season.
Beckham will end up having played part of the 2007 season, the 2008 season, and part of the 2009 season. Time will tell if the Galaxy do much of anything this season. But, in 2007 and 2008, LA failed to make the MLS playoffs either year.
I know that LA got the Herbalife deal done largely due to Beckham and they sold loads of jerseys and sponsorship deals.
But, the bar was set really high by Beckham's people, the Galaxy, and MLS and Beckham has not delivered when it comes to elevating the perception of MLS and soccer in the US.
But then again, if you were a sucker enough to think that was possible........
MLS Waiver Draft today
The one interesting thing about the MLS Waiver Draft is who will fall to USL clubs.
Rod Dyachenko has already signed with the Minnesota Thunder, but it will be interesting to see if the Rhinos look at anyone like Jamie Watson or Ned Grabavoy.
News & Notes:
- Not only is Miami FC in trouble, but so is the Miami-Barca MLS Expansion bid.
- Vancouver wants to throw some dirt on the Miami bid......
- Houston is a game away from advancing in the CCL.
- I thought the USL teams were the class of the CCL?
- Greg Lalas says that Freddy Adu needs to tough it out with Monaco.
- Steven Goff says that the smart money for the opponent in this year's MLS All-Star Game is Valencia.
- 100% Soccer talks to Sacha Klejstan.
- Is Seattle taking the Toronto FC bar and raising it through the roof?Well, the home opener is sold out, the roster is set, and they even had to expand the people they were letting into the home opener!
- One person doesn't like the MLS Portland plan.
- Colorado has some new threads. Not bad. But what will Steve Guppy be rocking in 2009?
- Is Run DMB headed to Germany this summer?
- Gotta love the behind the scenes look at the latest 2-0 US win over Mexico.
- Portland has signed former LA Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them
