End It Like Beckham

As David Beckham says au revoir to his playing career this Sunday, much has been written and talked about his contributions to soccer.  I don't wish to rehash his career, or the underwear ads, or how he saved England during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, or even him giving credibility to soccer in the USA by making the Los Angeles Galaxy his pet project for six years.  I would like to write about how he's affected me.

I wouldn't be a soccer fan if it wasn't for Beckham!  It's that simple.  And the great thing about YouTube is that I can recollect moments that personally affected me.  I wanted to give three examples, but Beckham is such a huge personality that I could only narrow it down to six.  So here's my top six, in descending order:

6. Manchester United vs. Chelsea 1998 FA Cup


I was working in England at the time when friends took me to my first proper football match.  It was a miserable day for my hard-core Chelsea supporter friends, because Manchester United midfielder Beckham scored the first two goals of the match, the second on a wonderfully curling free kick!  I remember my friends cursing Beckman, his ancestors and his future descendants as we took the London Underground back to our flat, but I sat there quietly thinking to myself, Wow.  My English friends still hold my support for ManU against me, but it's truly their fault as they shouldn't have taken me to that match in the first place!

5. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. DC United 2007 Superliga


With the big 100 million dollar contract Beckham received to play in Los Angeles, the expectations were huge.  Could he perform in the US as well as he did in Europe?  Beckham answered by bending a free kick so hard that it wound up in the side netting of the goal!  The only reason I got to go to Beckham's first match in LA was because I got a ticket for my boss.  He didn't give me grief for wanting to leave early for Galaxy matches after that!

4. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo 2008 MLS Regular Season


Pitchers don't normally score runs, and Quarterbacks don't normally score touchdowns.  Beckham has been criticized for not scoring more, but his main job with The Galaxy was to supply the service for those who do score.  The United States just don't have players with the vision, strength and accurracy required for playmakers yet in soccer.  Thankfully Englishman Beckham had it, as he somehow bent his passes around Dynamo defenders for midfielder Landon Donovan to score two goals.  Amazing!  This match is notable to me not because it's the first match where I took my mother, my nieces and my friend Rachel, but it was the first time I realized that the US finally had a world-class soccer player in Donovan.

3. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Chivas USA 2009 MLS Playoffs


My favorite Beckham pass!  At the 3:35 mark of the above clip, Beckham launches a 70-yard screwball-like pass that somehow lands in front of a sprinting Donovan for The Galaxy's first score.  The entire stadium just went "Whoa!", with the possible exception of my pastor, who attended the match with me.  He seemed more excited that The Galaxy had a player named "Buddle" than with Beckham's pass.  We never attended another match together.

2. England vs. Greece 2002 World Cup Qualifier


I didn't attend this match in person, but I was watching it in a London pub with my best friend when we were joined by a stranger named Gretchen.  She was on holiday from Copenhagen and she wanted to watch the match without being harrassed by English patrons.  We didn't talk much as Beckham's performance completely enthralled everyone, and when Beckham finally scored the place erupted in joyous cheers!  He not only affected the English customers, but a Dane and two Americans as well!  And I got to spend the next six hours with a very pretty lady in the coolest city on Earth! Thanks Becks! 

1. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. CD Motagua 2011 Concacaf Champions League


While Galaxy matches sell out on weekends, they don't do well on weeknights.  Anyone who has driven in Los Angeles traffic knows how hard it is to get anywhere during the week.  I went with my brother-in-law because it was the only match we could attend before he and my sister flew back to Australia.  With less than 5,000 in attendance, I wasn't expecting Beckham to play.  Not only did he play, but he played hard, culminating in a perfect fake to lose his Motagua defender and a cross to Donovan for the score!  He didn't play to the lights or to be noticed that night, he just played for the soccer!

*****

So has my man crush somehow find its way into my work?  Let's just say my original Pretty Vacant script had a Mindy mannequin wearing a certain England National Team soccer jersey...

... and leave it at that!

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