What the reports fail to acknowledge is that Pele was a goal-scorer, with more flash than 100 strobe lights. Other than Beckham’s ability to occasionally score a goal from a free kick — hence the “bending” of the ball, he is a midfielder known primarily for crossing the ball to his forwards, hardly a highlight reel proposition.
Becks could not even start for Real Madrid, with their cast of galacticos, and he was stripped in the last six months of his captaincy and his automatic place in the English national soccer team. What the Galaxy and MLS are getting is essentially a clapped-out player with little future and a Hollywood wannabe wife, whose main contribution to the game will be his fashion and hairstyles. (OK, fair play. He does say he is committed to getting kids interested in soccer in America, a idea that has been unrealized for 30 years.)
Good luck, David and Posh. You’ll need it.
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Phillipe & Jorge: p&j@phx.com
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