Who’s Calling the Shots in LA?

By: Laurie | February 26th, 2008

Interesting article in 90:00 Magazine speculating on why David Beckham played the full ninety in both Pan-Pacific games on artificial turf.

Or, to look at the bigger picture, exactly who’s calling the shots in LA? Coach Ruud Gullit, or Beckham himself?

The article’s conclusion? Beckham.

So why did Beckham go the full 90 minutes in both Pan Pacific games? Why risk injury to the league’s marquee player on artificial turf, in a tournament the Galaxy seemed to be using as little more than a chance to decide who to cut from the roster and who to keep around for a little while longer?

The answer is simple really. When Beckham was left off of Fabio Capello’s roster for England’s recent friendly, the Italian was quoted as saying that Beckham’s omission was based solely on the fact that he hadn’t played in any matches in recent months. Capello went on to say that if Beckham could prove his match fitness over the course of the Galaxy’s preseason exhibition matches, then he would recall the former England captain.

Everyone knows how desperate Beckham is to get his 100th cap. Don’t think for one second that Becks didn’t demand to go the distance in both contests this week to prove his match fitness to his national team coach.

“Demand”? Really?

Do you think he and Ruud have that kind of relationship? Just curious. If anybody finds any video of the two of them interacting, I’d love to see it to try to figure out the dynamic between them.

I would guess that this was a lot about Beckham getting Capello’s attention. But I think it was also in Ruud’s and the team’s interest to see which of the youngsters can play well with Beckham. Who, exactlly, can get on the end of those crosses? Beckham spends 180 minutes delivering those crosses, Ruud gets to see who can step up and get the job done. Win-win, to a large extent. For better or worse, the team is going to be built around Beckham this year. The more we know about how best to deal with this fact, the better.

Of course, if he’d gotten injured on the artificial turf, the story would be a bit different. But he didn’t.

The biggest positive to this, for me, anyway, is that I just got my tickets for France-England in the mail yesterday. (I somehow managed to get the front door closed and the mailman off my front porch before doing the happy dance.)

Yes, I will be in France, again, to see my beloved France National Team take on the England NT on March 26. When I made the plans I had no idea that there was a chance I’d get to see Beckham get his 100th cap. But that would certainly be a bonus.

(And fear not. This blog will not go dormant for opening week of MLS. I’m in the middle of making arrangements for LA Galaxy Offside to be in good hands while I’m gone. Stay tuned.)

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Player News

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Grover

I agree with your post..The greatest benefit of multi-purpose turf is the ability to increase the amount of time and the variety of ways the fields are used.The synthetic grass will be definitely safe for sportsman as it has the shock absorbing capacity .Also it provides oxygen and filter rainwater or cool the air.
Misareaux

Beckham looks like an assassin in that picture.
JustJack

Ruuuuuud! bien sur, he's the gaffer, the boss, the wrangler, the major domo, where the buck stops. Becks is a pro and if he'll respect Capello, he'll certainly defer to his boss, Ruud (who is of a personal and professional reputation that puts Capello to shame, frankly).
jenl

Another one who believes Ruud is in charge. The ultimate decision is with Ruud. It has to be. Wasn't that part of what they wanted in a new coach anyway?

That doesn't mean that Beckham is receiving the same coaching as the rookies. I'm certain that Ruud and Beckham have a great deal of mutual respect. Becks can say, "hey, I'm taking a pounding out here on this turf" and Ruud isn't necessarily going to say, "suck it up." I'm sure there's a professional give and take between them. But the ultimate call has to be Ruud's.
Nicole

Yeah, I definitely think Ruud is completely in charge. In the first game, I truly believe Becks wanted to come off but Ruud had other plans. He wanted Beckham to play the whole game. Becks picked up his play and then really played well in the 2nd game. If Ruud had wanted Beckham off the field for any portion of those games, Beckham would have been off. Of that I have no doubt.
Laurie

Hannah, that's true. He looked wiped out after that first game. I don't think losing agrees with him.

In the second game he seemed to be having fun, though.
Hannah

Really I thought Beckham would have wanted to come off right after the half, he kept looking to the sidelines to get taken out and it never happened last week.
CSD

I haven't seen any of the games, but I would leave Beckham in because he's the only constant right now. Right now, he's fit so we know how he'll play. The other players need to be shuffled around him to see what's going to work and what will not.
tower0surfer

Ruud is in charge. The first half I did not see all that much from the team as a whole and Beckham really had little to no impact on the game. I think maybe half way through the second Beckham finaly started to play inspired. Then the second game Beckham played hard and fired up. Ruud knows that it is more then fitness for Beckham; he knows that he needs Beckham to be playing excellent football for 90 minutes.
Ruud wants Beckham to lead this team, and that means supporting players when needed and yelling at them when they don't perform. Case in point ManU is destroying Newcastle over the weekend, a bad ball is played up to Rooney who then turns and yells that he wants the ball at his feet. How many times have we seen top level players yell at other top level players because of a bad ball. This is what Ruud will expect from his team. His ego is just as big as Beckham's and he does not want to look like an idiot. Two 90 minute games was more about coaching and seeing who can and will play hard and tough with Beckham. Notice how Harmse did not see the field, he is not part of Ruud's plans. Ruud is definitely in charge.