The Morning According to Us

MLS should realize Beckham at AC Milan is good for the league.

Getty Images

Becks in Milan gives the MLS a new kind of appeal.

The Independent, a Bristish tab that has a gift for oddly predictive headlines, claims today that David Beckham will "be booed upon his return to the U.S." To back the claim, the paper cites the words of Alexei Lalas, the former American great who largely spear-headed the $250 million deal that brought The Prince and the Pop Star to Hollywood.

"He'll get booed and it's of his own making," Lalas told the BBC. "If he comes back this summer, as has been reported, I'm sure he'll do everything he can to help the team on the field. But I'm also sure there is something to be said for having players on your team who want to be there. I don't think that's too much to ask."

It's also not too much to ask that Lalas take a moment and realize what a gift this is for Major Legaue Soccer. A player has used his league to regain status as a great player, not relinquish it.

Consider the background.

For years, players with any ounce of lingering international name value who end up in MLS—think Carlos Valderrama, Cuauhtémoc Blanco or even Jorge Campos, Juan Pablo Angel and Piotr Nowak—have largely been either borderline washed up, or really have mostly just North American name value. They come, play out their careers for a few extra ducats, put on a good fight for the continually growing fan base and return to their countries, or latch on as coaches.

Then there's Beckham, who came with monumental fanfair, sold a ton of jerseys and tickets and was a part of some of the most memorable games in MLS history even for a largely bad team. And even as a star that we presumed was mostly in name—Becks was good, but nowhere near dominant in MLS—he has drawn the interest of a club in AC Milan that's among the top five outfits in the world. So we ask: since when is having an MLS player called on to start alongside Kaká, Inzaghi, Maldini, Ronaldinho, Pato or other such luminaries a bad thing?

If this was an American player, it would be among the best breakthroughs the league and the country has ever experienced.

If MLS is going to continue to gain in esteem, it needs to be content with the idea that a top player can leave to play among the very best. What's worse, Beckham stays and plays away his career, the marketing clout of his arrival now a distant memory, or he stars for AC Milan and returns to England's starting eleven in the next World Cup?

In one case, he'd be a player who helped MLS with a few more tickets sold, and does the retirement dance with the rest.

In the other, he's a guy who played in MLS now at the peak of international competition.

American soccer is a lot better off if international stars see MLS as a league where their game can find new life, not a place to land for one last paid jog around the pitch.

Elsewhere…

Why Italy's national soccer team can't beat England's.

Sri Lankan cricket coach says it's unsafe for anyone in South Asia to play sports now.

A 6-year-old climbs Everest. Alright, now that's just showing off. Punk.

You can be old and washed up and win at ski jumping. Hey, 38 ain't that old!

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine