Beckham, the Galaxy, and the Club World Championship

Obviously I haven't read everything that's been written in the media tsunami about Beckham, but I'm kind of surprised that no one has brought up how the CWC might have played into the Beckham-to-LA strategy. The CWC haters can go ahead and stop reading right here. So can the people who think Beckham is a washed-up, overhyped crap player. I'm not here to have those debates.

But for those of us who believe that Beckham is still a great player, and that the CWC is a good thing and that it is also inevitably a very big part of the future of club football globally, no matter what UEFA and the traditional Euro megaclubs might wish, the presence of Beckham at the Galaxy raises intriguing prospects for synergy.

Bear with me: The Galaxy were in the last CONCACAF Champs Cup that sent Club America to the recently-completed 2006 CWC, where they reached the semis and got to play Barcelona. Of course, America got creamed. And sure, the Galaxy unfortunately bombed out of CCC in the first round, and their underperformance last season in MLS means they are already out of the running for the next cycle.

But imagine this scenario, which is not really that far-fetched:

In 2007, with Beckham for at least part of the season and the playoffs, the Galaxy win MLS Cup. Behind Becks' leadership and big-game experience, and his inspiring of new levels of performance from Donovan, they go on to triumph in the 2007 CONCACAF Champs Cup. That sends them to Japan for the 08 CWC, where they will have a shot at the reigning UEFA Champions League winner. Of course, Beckham was in the Man U squad that took place in the inaugural CWC eight years before. Is it Barcelona again? Chelsea? AC Milan? Maybe even Man U or Real Madrid? if it were one of those last two, the Hollywood scriptwriter behind a film like "Miracle" would be salivating over this kind of an epic sports saga. But it certainly could actually happen. Beckham would still be only 33 by then.

My points:
1. This very possibility of getting a shot to prove all the Eurosnobs and haters wrong could be a huge motivation for Beckham. The very fact of the CWCs existence means that moving to the Galaxy does NOT, in fact, close the door on his opportunities to compete against the best in the world once again. (And I'm not talking about all the friendlies from touring Euro clubs that the Galaxy will surely set up.) If that spurs him to put the team on his back and take them there, it would be absolutely awesome. And I believe he could do it.

2. The CWC is held in Asia, where Beckham's brand is strongest, so on the marketing side it would be a gold mine as well. And I mean no insult when I say that Becks is very conscious of these factors and it surely would serve as additional motivation.

3. A storybook Beckham-led run by an outsider US team in the CWC is the kind of thing FIFA marketers fantasize about. It would massively raise the profile of the CWC itself if it happened. It's the kind of story that also tweaks the interest of the US sports press, which is so notorious for its tepid interest in actual competitions as opposed to "human interest" aspects of events.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon right out of the gate:
LA Galaxy, Club World Champions 2008!!!

 

I doubt it will rotate any time soon. For the next few years it simply isn't viable to have it anywhere else than Japan. FIFA can't afford another stumble like the Brazil fiasco, and Japan is money in the bank for facilities, attendance, logistics, etc. Maybe by 2010 it will move but I doubt any earlier and maybe not ever.

 

Man, the trolls have really come out of the woodwork.
However, this is amateur hour material.
For the really virulent stuff you have to check out the comment sections at the Guardian, BBC Sport, etc.

As to the so-called content of your post: Beckham clearly does not share the view you ascribe to him, since he elected to come to LA rather than Milan, and Milan's large offer to him demonstrates that your other assertion is equally spurious.

Next!

 

Making money in a market doesn't mean that the market can support the CWC infrastructure-wise. SK could possibly manage it, and would probably be inclined to grab for it at some point just because Japan has it. China faces the geographical dispersion problems that also make the otherwise ideal US and Canada more problematic, as well as raising more infrastructure and logistics concerns. In the long run, it probably makes more sense for the CWC to be hosted, like the Olympics, by a city rather than a country. Post-08, Beijing could make a play. But I firmly predict that Japan will host the CWC through at least 2010 nonetheless. Keep in mind that a lot of the sponsor dollars come from Japan and that the history of the Toyota Cup is on Japan's side.

 

The only people who need cheering up are the haters like you, as you stew in your own pissy irrelevance. Those of us who actually know something about football beyond the typical English fan's "EPL ROOOLLZ!!!! BECKHAM SUX!!!" mentality are quite cheerful already, thank you very much. Becks has nothing he needs to prove to the likes of you and neither does American soccer or Brazilian soccer or Asian soccer or the Club World Championship. Yes, soccer. Let me say it again just to irk you: soccer. The global game is going to roll right over your smug Eurocentric hiney, flying the designer flag of Beckham.

Dismissed.