Should MLS be Protecting Beckham?

I hate to see Beckham injured, and I would hate to see him retire before his contract expires. It would be a tremendous loss to the MLS. I hope that other players understand what he means to soccer here in the United States and would stop trying to bring him down with low blows. I feel that Beckham should have waited to fully recover from his injury. As for the Beckham rule, it is unnecessary because in that case there would already be a Pele rule, a Maradona rule, a Zidane rule, and many others.

I'm just checking in and saying hi and testing to see if I get a little French flag. I hope so -- it should be my prize for figuring out this French keyboard. Good thoughts, everyone! I agree the matches need to be called tighter and a Beckham rule would be stupid. More later

Lalas says, on MLSnet, that its not true. Beckham said last Spring that he wouldn't do it, and has always said he wouldn't play for another English side against ManU. The 100 cap thing is a little overblown too, everyone likes records, but his "cherished dream" is just to keep playing for England as long as he can.
On the other hand there is the issue of Beckham not having trained with a team or played more than a few matches in almost nine months by the start of the next MLS season--if he doesn't make a pretty surprising recovery or come back too soon in the next month or so.

You can do cardio and conditioning 8 hrs a day, but that doesn't do much for your reflexes and mental sharpness on the pitch. So how does he get back to match fitness during the four or five month lay-off after rehab if he doesn't play someplace? (That was a real question, btw).

Is this true? From CNN rumors today:
http://www.fannation.com/truth...
Beckham wants loan back to England
Posted: Friday September 07, 2007 01:58PM ET
David Beckham is considering putting his American dream on hold in a desperate bid to save his England career. He is seeking crisis talks with bosses of the L.A. Galaxy to discuss a possible return to England on loan in January. The fiercely patriotic Beckham, who will definitely miss England's next two European Championship qualifiers -- and possibly the next four -- with a knee ligament injury, believes it may be the only way to achieve his cherished dream of winning 100 England caps.

It has to be unspoken respect from the referees. All big sports stars receive it! name a major sports star that doesn't?

-Michael Jordan received borderline calls and now Labron James does.
-Mario Lemiuex and Gretky received borderline calls and now Sidney Crosby does.
-I bet Pele received borderline calls throughout his career do to his status (too young to have watched Pele).

The point being that the referee's have to give respect, that has been earned, to the best players. There are very few sports, esspecially team sports where this is not the case!!!!

My one concern is that the referee's for MLS games look frightened around Beckham. They seem star struck and don't know what to call. That needs to change!

Hi Shazback, I almost said that in other parts of the world players had the decency to stop the game to have a fistfight ;-) , that was a wild match. I hear Laurie is on her way over to see your guys tomorrow, not a bunch of wilting flowers themselves! Good luck in your qualifier (unless the French flag under your post only means you're visiting and not a French NT supporter).

Diane : Last season's game between Inter Milan and Valencia had a catfight : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Punches, kicks... Champions league level stuff, I'm sure.

As a referee were never supposed to undermine the authority of another referee. But sometimes watching MLS matches....

the issue is bad reffing period - Ben Olsen has said that the refs need to call games tighter and he is right. SOme of the tackling is shite.

Beckham wasn't a legend in Spain, I've never seen a punch pulled in a Champions League game, and there are plenty of international defenders who wouldn't consider him to be any more of a legend than themselves. Also, half the teams in Spain consider any match with Real Madrid a grudge match. Obviously, its more convenient to be hit by a player talented enough to render you temporarily useless instead of permanently crippled. But that's not the point. The point is that whatever country you're in the refs are supposed to control dangerous play.

In the U.S. we like our sports rough? Which ones, American football and hockey are the only ones to which it could apply. Rough baseball? Golf? Tennis? Basketball (a finesse sport, not unlike soccer)?

As I'm sure is closer to reality, MLS players should be looking to hone their skills rather than put someone in the hospital. For all the relevance it has to the game, players could as easily start mugging each other in the parking lot.

Rough, physical, (or spirited as Tommy Smith would say), fine, everyone knows what game they signed up to play. But dangerous, no, and same rules for everyone.

OK, I'll retire from going on about this now!

Referees should crack down on all players with sloppy tackling, not just those that tackle Beckham.

I agree with Diane, Juan Carlos Sol and Dave Martinez, so I won't add a comment saying the same thing as they did.

Juan Carlos . . . first off, Ayalas is awesome. ARGENTINOS SON LOS MEJORES JUGADORES DEL FUTBOL!

But MLS is a league, when you watch it close, that is very very physical.

Blanco and Beckham get "respect" when they play in Europe or Mexico respectively - they tend to shy away from balls out tackles to their legends. More so in Mexico.

In the US? We like our sports rough. And in MLS, no one gives a rats ass WHO you are, you WILL get hit. And you will get hit hard.

Sure, better class players have hit him before . . . but whats worse? A hit from a class player who knows what he is doing, or a hard tackle from a Dema Kovalenko who is looking to take you to the hospital ?

the dumbest rule ever, it is that simple...

who the hell is this writter? he knows jack shit anout football, I am sure players like Ayala have given him much harder tackles...

Rob, great explanation of why those "chippy" matches are so annoying!

I'm new to this site and I have to say I love it!!! true football fans, ahhh what a breath of fresh air. I agree with the statements made. I happened to be at Beckhams match in New York and it being my first taste of MLS live I was shocked at the clutching and the grabing and the poor tackling that took place. the match was exciting (9 goals) but Beckham did take a hard foul and a small scrum followed.
The real issue is the MLS refs who are under a microscope during those Beckham games. They generate much bigger crowds and a much bigger TV audience and it must be tough for them. As it was stated before, right now Beckham is MLS and unless Ronaldo or Zidane come to the states it will remain that way till Beckham hangs them up. So the refs need to call games tighter to stop that kind of "targeting" nonsense to their most popular player.
Remember when the NHL was considered "boring" because of all the clutching and grabing that was going on. That it slowed down the league and it wasn't giving the skilled players enough room or space to showcase their talents? I think MLS might have the same problem. The reason it appears that American players aren't up to snuff is because they're constantly being held by slower and less skilled players. If MLS were to crack down on that stuff maybe the field would be opened up a bit more, faster action, more goals, better play.
No special treatment is needed for one player, but rather fair treatment to all the players.

Laurie, nothing has been very ugly. I don't even think the Sidwell challenge or Marsch tackle were that nasty. Marsch and Beckham had were already taking swipes at each other.

I don't think Becks has been kicked to bits or faced that many rough-housers (unless I was missing something). I think the greater danger to the whole league will be players that are bad at tackling, and anyone can get hurt then (and already have if I'm not mistaken). Looking at the various injured lists, the refs should probably be doing more to protect everyone from recklessness.

Disagree (although not with Dex). Are they KIDDING!!!?? My GAWD this may be the very last straw...

Cathal Kelly is a baseball writer who covers the Blue Jays, and a perfect example of the importance not only of dedicated soccer stadiums but dedicated soccer writers. It's almost impossible to believe that Kelly has followed international football at any time during the past ten years, or even since Beckham signed his Galaxy contract.

Beckham didn't just crawl out of retirement, he's four months out of the Spanish league and a brutally fought title race; four months from his last international match against Brazil, and two weeks from playing already injured against Germany -- neither match-up known for particularly civil "friendlies." Leaving off the fifteen previous years Beckham survived quite well facing the best, and often dirtiest, defenders from England and all over the rest of the world, has anyone ever watched Spanish football? He is not going to face anything in the U.S. that he hasn't been up against before, or worse because Spanish referees are so astonishingly bad that they often cause more danger than they prevent.

Although MLS viewers have only seen Beckham injured, you would think someone writing about him for publication would know how little time he has spent in emergency rooms and the fact that he would be no more likely to do so now.

First, before arriving in LA Beckham was known for training tirelessly and then some more after that (the biggest surprise to me in this period wasn't that he played injured, it was that he played out of condition) and he's been lucky to have had relatively few injuries during his career. That leaves him in pretty good shape compared to younger players more frequently injured or less attentive to general health and conditioning. Dex is right, fitness and field smarts are his protection. They're not a guarantee, but no player at any age has one of those.

Second, here's the funniest part. Beckham himself is a tough physical player, he didn't emerge from an Adidas ad, he was a cockney kid who grew up playing in the parks in East London before moving on to the not quite hothouse environment of Manchester. Everyone says he leaves the glitz and glamour outside the dressing room door, and you see the evidence in how far he pushes the referee's limits, loses his temper, and gets booked more than someone who knows the game as well as he does should (and not just because he is not the smoothest tackler around).

Laurie once said that we want Beckham because of his competitiveness and passion for the game. He likes both teammates and opponents the same way, he's always liked the big game more than the easy one, and he likes to win them. I can't imagine playing with a set of rules meant to coddle me, and I am neither an athlete or particularly competitive. I just know that it would take all the fun out of playing.

Can you imagine how players in the rest of the league would view Beckham if there wasn't just the ridiculous wage disparity but a separate set of rules for him? How could he play ON a team let alone against one? Good Grief...he really, REALLY is a footballer and not a sideshow. The only thing MLS can do to regain credibility in this situation is to treat Beckham as what he is to the rest of the footballing world and let him play the game once he's fit. Otherwise the whole thing remains a joke, and shows even less respect for the player than when he was played on one foot.

Disagree. It sets up a troubling precedent and puts pressure on the referees to single out a particular player and how he's being treated. Each tackle/foul should be taken on its merits and judged accordingly. I don't want to see Beckham, or any other player, hurt through malicious tackles, but I don't want to see a 'shield' go up either.

"Watching someone writhe around on a soccer pitch doesn’t signal manly man to the American moviegoer" But will the average American fan respect a player who comes under minimal pressure because he's being protected?

Beckham has been targeted his whole career and managed to do ok. What he needs to do is take the time to get fully fit again. Then the chances of him being hurt, or caught in bad tackles is greatly reduced. That's the long term strategy for the MLS and Beckham's career in it, rather than the pressure to roll him out in every possible game.

Agree. These guys who are "trying to make a name for themselves" are also trying to be unemployed in a few years if the league crumbles because no stars are willing to come get kicked around buy someone who makes less money than the people that clean their house.