While David Beckham's first season in Major League Soccer has not yet come to an end, one of his bosses discussed the Beckham saga to this point on Thursday.
Los Angeles Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas said that Beckham's arrival has been historic and will have significant impact in the future nonetheless.
"When we look back at those platforms, we'll probably talk about 2007 in the way we look back at 1994 and say that was an important and historical moment," said Lalas, referencing the 1994 World Cup. "It's not going to be everything and we still have a long way to go but we need to have more of these moments and more of these platforms."
Lalas was one of three speakers at Thursday's Honda Symposium in Los Angeles. Aside from the Galaxy official, U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley and Federacion Mexicana de Futbol (Mexican Soccer Federation) general secretary Decio de Maria also discussed issues that dealt with their own teams and organizations as well as relations with Major League Soccer.
As one of the league's most talked about individuals this year, Beckham's arrival has brought both positive and negative side effects, Lalas said. With the former England captain on the roster, the Galaxy has enjoyed both success and failure.
Financially, Beckham has been a boon. The Galaxy, though, have been stuck at the bottom of the Western Conference table and have only gotten back into the playoff picture following a three-game winning streak.
Lalas said there needs to be a better balance between the two.
"As wonderful as David is for the marketing and for the exposure of the Galaxy and for Major League Soccer, if he's not playing on the field and if the team is not playing well on the field, it doesn't work," he said.
Galaxy road games have been a hot item and even with Beckham injured opposing teams have sold thousands of tickets. More than 30,000 tickets, for instance, were sold for the Galaxy's match on Sept. 27 match at Kansas City, a game that Beckham did not play in.
The Galaxy, though, have reaped the rewards as their jersey has been one of the best-selling soccer shirts in the world.
"The business part of the equation has worked out fine in that we've made our money back and continue to make money and continue to generate revenues unlike anything that we have ever see for the Galaxy or for Major League Soccer for that matter," Lalas said. "That's all fine and well but he needs to get back on the field."
Beckham sprained his knee in the SuperLiga final on Aug. 29 and had not been a part of the team until Wednesday, when he participated in a Galaxy training session for the first time since the day before the final. But Lalas warned against trotting a less-than-100-percent Beckham out against either Toronto on Oct. 13 or New York on Oct. 18, the Galaxy's next two home dates.
"We are hopeful that he will play a part in the next two home games," Lalas said. "I will tell you right now if for one instant we feel that either physically or emotionally he is not 100 percent ready to go he will not play for us nor will he play for England."
On both Oct. 13 and Oct. 17, England has international fixtures, on the former date against Estonia and on the latter at Russia.
Meanwhile, Oct. 17 will also be an important date for Bradley. The United States will play at Switzerland on that date and will have one more game -- on Nov. 17 at South Africa - before calling it a year.
The U.S. will kick off 2008 in the same manner is the team did in 2007: with a training camp at The Home Depot Center. Bradley said the camp would likely feature predominantly MLS players and that a match against Sweden would follow some three weeks into camp.
Bradley said that throughout 2007 the team has set the foundation for the rest of this World Cup cycle and beyond. The U.S. will begin its 2010 qualifying campaign in June and said some players have shown that they will play integral roles in the United States' success.
"Timmy Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, players that have had experience, players that throughout this year I think have shown that they are going to be very important going forward," Bradley said.
Aside from the tried-and-true veterans, the U.S. counted on young and internationally inexperienced players during this year and would keep tabs on them to see how they could be of use in the future.
"We need more time to see which ones continue to develop at the highest rate," Bradley said.
Meanwhile, de Maria talked about the state of Mexican soccer. In terms of MLS, de Maria said both nations have benefited each other in soccer this year with the foundation of SuperLiga for instance.
"The integration with MLS is very good," de Maria said. "We have two markets in which to develop our soccer. The development of American soccer is fundamental and we are happy to contribute so that it continues to grow. I believe that SuperLiga was a good tournament. In addition, the games between the national teams are very competitive with a lot of passion. All of this is part of this relationship and we feel very good about it."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
