Beckham Cannot Remedy All the Galaxy's Problems

New York and New Jersey got the David Beckham treatment over the weekend. On Friday afternoon, he turned up in West Harlem and gave a cozy little soccer clinic for young players from the FC Harlem soccer club. Over in a corner of the Jacob Schiff Field, a loud group of youths, penned back by fencing, yelled constantly, "David, David, you're the best!" until Beckham — a crowd of photographers and apprehensive security heavies swirling around him — walked quickly over to them to sign autographs.

A telling moment, for this is not soccer country, not here in Hamilton Heights. The fans changed their chant to "We're Dominican! Baseball! Baseball!" True, soccer isn't the national pastime for Dominicans. But this group loved Beckham, and soon resumed their "David! David! We Love you David!" chanting.

Beckham went back to the artificial turf field and sat down among the boys and girls, his arms around the nearest, his easy smile surrounded by a score of happy faces.

And that was it. Beckham had performed a few moves, shown the children how to do them, given a few tips — nothing special really — before he was limo-ed away to a posh Midtown hotel for a press conference. It was inevitably an over-regimented affair at which Beckham gave bland answers.

A day later in New Jersey, he captained the Los Angeles Galaxy at Giants Stadium, and they lost the game 4–5 to the New York Red Bulls. So, to review: a low-key clinic for soccer tots, a vapid press conference, and a lost game. No, Beckham did not leave a trail of glory wherever he trod, but he triumphed nonetheless.

The Beckham charisma needs no explaining. Here's a superstar with no sign of superiority or swagger who convinces you, very quickly, that he's still a human being like the rest of us. The smile tells it all: His is not a PR smile, not an aggressive mouthful of gleaming teeth, not a perma-grin, nor a synthetic moment turned on for the ever-present paparazzi. It is a warm, genuine smile with a beautiful touch of boyish shyness.

How not to like the guy? The lure of Beckham pulled a crowd of 66,237 into Giants Stadium on Saturday, over 50,000 more than the usual turnout for an average Red Bulls game. No doubt many came precisely because of the Beckham mystique, but they will have been captivated too by the soccer that was played.

They saw nine goals, no less, with three assists from the famous Beckham free kicks or corner kicks. The spectators also got the drama of a last-minute win for the Red Bulls. They saw Beckham starting his first MLS game, but it was the unlikely figure of referee Kevin Stott who made the first key move of the game after only three minutes. As the Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore raced for the goal, Galaxy defender Ty Harden pulled him down. Stott should have ejected Harden, but chose only to caution him.

A wrong call, but perversely the right call, as it avoided an unbalanced 11-player vs. 10-player game for the next 87 minutes.

When the game ended, Beckham was still on the field — something of a surprise, given the sore left ankle that has been limiting his MLS playing time. The fans had cheered him, and they had roundly booed him whenever he went to take a corner kick. In his first full game, Beckham gave MLS exactly what it was hoping for: a huge crowd and a massively entertaining game.

Of course, there were a couple of guys who found the goal rush worrying rather than exhilarating. The malcontents were the coaches. Soccer coaches, even winning coaches, do not like high scoring games, however much the fans may rejoice. The Red Bulls' Bruce Arena acknowledged the excitement created by the high scoring, but added, "I'm not sure I buy into it — I was scratching my head a little at times."

Galaxy coach Frank Yallop had similar trouble coming to terms with the 5–4 score line, saying "It was a hell of a game, for a neutral. But if the fans tonight didn't enjoy that, they know nothing about soccer. The result should have been a tie, though."

The coaches departed from the post-game conference and Beckham bounced in, looking fresh and pleased. His first remark was almost a put-down of MLS soccer: "That was different," he said, "I haven't been involved in a game like that since I was nine years old." But the Beckham smile banished any thought he was being snide, and the reporters all laughed agreeably as Beckham confessed to enjoying himself, adding "I was surprised to play 90 minutes, but I didn't want to come off."

The conference floated euphorically along as Beckham praised New York. "It's a great city, I love coming here, I love the people here," he said, and for a second one would think, that's PR talking. Then you remember that he's named one of his sons Brooklyn, and any doubts vanish yet again.

The booing? All in good fun, Beckham said with another smile. The tricky problem of the sore ankle came up. Beckham admitted the ankle had swelled up. Still, he flew off to London on Sunday to play for England in an exhibition game against Germany tomorrow.

Beckham will jet back to Los Angeles on Thursday in time for the Galaxy's game against Chivas USA that night. "Hopefully," he said, "I can play some part in that game."

On that positive note, Beckham left, smiling. The media dispersed, smiling. But that last comment sounded like comic strip material, SuperBecks to the rescue — and not even a fully fit SuperBecks at that. Reality returns, and it's time to remember that the Galaxy has just lost another game. This is a team with the second-worst record in the league that has won only three games (out of 14) this season, and has lost both of the league games that Beckham has participated in.

The Galaxy's chance of making the playoffs are fading fast. At the moment, the team is 12 points behind the Columbus Crew, which has the lowest points total of the current qualifiers.

Admittedly, the Galaxy has played five fewer games, but the team now faces an overloaded last five weeks of the season as it squeezes in its 14 remaining games, half of them on the road. MLS faces the likelihood that, during the final climactic three weeks of its season in November, Beckham will be the great absentee.

pgardner@nysun.com