Beckham Won’t Decide When He’s Fit

In a positive and refreshing sign that perhaps you CAN teach an old dog new tricks (or that the Galaxy has, perhaps, actually learned something this season), GM Alexi Lalas is saying that from here on out it won’t be David Beckham deciding whether or not he’s fit enough to retake the pitch.

“Just because David says he is healthy, that does not mean he is healthy,” Lalas told Yahoo! Sports. “When we see he is able to train for an extended period of time and are confident he is 100 percent physically and mentally – at that time we will see him on the field and not before.

“We are certainly going to make sure that for his benefit and for the team’s benefit we take this one as slowly as possible. We will want to see for certain. We will take every precaution to make sure we are being fair, but also being stringent in terms of our testing and our assessment of where he is at.” …

Lalas has admiration for the way Beckham tried to soldier on through his ailments in the early days of his new career in California. Yet there is a sense within the club that Beckham must sometimes be saved from his own desire to be on the field – for his own good.

Sounds like a tiny seed of wisdom may have taken root at last. It only took the sacrifice of Beckham’s ankle and knee and the Galaxy’s entire 2007 season.

But here’s the part of the article I found most interesting:

His long-standing ankle injury was not allowed to heal properly after joining the Galaxy, in part due to his own wish to perform earlier than was advisable.

Uh…yeah. And that ESPN thing and the celebrity red carpet thing and that Beck-cam plus eighteen other cameras thing had NOTHING to do with it.

Score yet another one for Alexi’s amazing ability to deflect criticism away from himself.

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Category: Player News