All Quiet On Planet Beckham
Los Angeles Galaxy are lying third in their Conference of the US Major League Soccer competition but how many British football fans are aware of it?
When David Beckham went to the MLS huge amounts of column inches were devoted to his move to California. Now his exploits are hardly featured on this side of the pond. British channels are markedly less keen to show MLS fixtures than in the early days of his American sojourn.
Partly this is down to England's failure to make it to Euro 2008. The nation has been spared weeks of angst about whether the former captain should be in the squad, or is fit enough to be included etc etc.
While two English clubs have reached the Champions League Final and the title race went to the last day, the appetite for news about what is happening in a mediocre oversaes league has tailed off dramatically.
In fact though, Beckham has been quietly going about his business and making an effective contribution to the Galaxy effort.His 7 games have delivered 3 goals and 4 assists (always beloved of American sports fans). His recent appearances on Canadian grounds brought out sizeable crowds and a favourable write-up from local sports writers.
The player is finally able to show the public what the franchise paid so much for after his first season performances were drastically affected by injury.
Beckham may not be the much trumpeted messiah who can take the MLS up to the level of North America's main sports but he might be the man to take LA Galaxy to the top of the MLS pile.
The Beckham on display in the United States is not the man who seemed jaded and careworn at Euro 2004- he's far more the player who Fabio Capello had to bring back into Real Madrid's title winning side in 2006.
The Galaxy are still marketing him for all he's worth and exhibitions are still part of the schedule but Beckham can still deliver on the park at this level. After all the hoopla of the past decade he might just be able to make another telling contribution on the park.
A colleague once asked Ian Botham 'who writes your scripts?' after another unlikely triumph and David Beckham might yet have it in him to write a denoument to his career on his own terms.
