The good news is that David Beckham's ankle will have a little more time to heal. The bad news is that this latest layoff is the result of yet another injury to the Fragile One.
Apparently Becks injured his knee during last night's SuperLiga final, which the Galaxy lost on penalties to Mexican side Pachuca. At least LA finally managed to score 2 goals in a game...too bad one of them was for the other team. And not that the Galaxy really had a chance to make the playoffs, but any lingering hopes of a miracle run are certainly over now. Too bad the MLS doesn't relegate teams to the USL, otherwise there would be a legitimate chance that the Galaxy would be dropped and forced to sell Becks back to England lest he suffer the ignominy of playing for a 2nd division US team.
It seems that many of the worst-case scenarios for Beckham's MLS career are coming true:
1) crazy travel schedule, including England matches, leading to exhaustion? check!
2) nagging injuries made worse by the fact that several MLS teams play on turf? check!!
3) Becks the recipient of many hard tackles from overzealous and reckless opponents? check!!!
4) 32-year old midfielder with a history of ailments breaks down? check!!!!
Hopefully, this will just be a bump in the road and this layoff will give him ample time to rest and recuperate, and he'll be back next Spring fit and better than ever...just in time for Euro 2008!
2 comments:
Scotto take on the injury: It was a classic leg-to-leg challenge. i remember them well from my playing days. It was always a real test of muscle, and you felt high as a kite if the opposing player went flying while you stood your ground, steady as a rock, with the ball at your foot.
Beckham was coming in full speed from one direction, the Pachuca player was flying in from the opposite direction. Beckham looked to pull up a tad right before impact (a potentially fatal decision). His knee absorbed the torque of the contact and he went flying. He should have either pulled up and jumped over the challenge or really committed.
But hats off to LA in this one. They were in it in the 2nd half (despite limping into the halftime barely hanging on). The own goal was absurdly bad--a low screamer to the corner while under no pressure, but Cannon was superb all night when the shots weren't coming from his own team. Landon was tearing it up too, but suffered from a case of poor finishing (where, oh where have we seen that before?).
As for the Galaxy's season: "shut her down, boys, she's sucking mud." Start planning for next year. New coach. New players. Same goalkeeper. Less capping of attendance to accomodate local University's parking concerns.
Take Two! Had to add Yallop's post-game f-bomb fest:
"I could go over why we come out flat, why we look like we're not interested," Yallop said, "but guys are f---in' knackered, to be honest. That's the truth. But I'll tell you what: They kept going. They're f---ed ... All the crap that we've been f---in' through, I'm telling you, it's been difficult to f---in' deal with -- sorry to swear -- but it's been hard. But they kept going, and that makes me proud."
That f---in' rocks. Go Yallop!
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