Roberto Carlos leaves Madrid after 11 consecutive years (including 3 European Champions League titles), the longest ever period for any foreign player with Real Madrid.
Becks leaves for LA after 4 years with Real Madrid, without ever complaining or uttering a bad word about anyone. Not the greatest player in the world, but definitely a gentleman and a true professional.
Grave Error 
And every LA Galaxy game where Beckham is to be playing, is sold out.
He may do more for American football then even the unstoppable Pele`.
I really doubt it. It is a shame, but Beckham isn’t the right guy for US soccer. Ronaldinho would be much better. Americans want to see play makers and Jordans. Becks is simply a work horse who has great touch on long balls. But, that is hardly a slam dunk or an ally-oop. Basically, Americans are going ask what the big deal is about some blonde dude that runs all over the place but can’t dribble around anyone and doesn’t really score goals.
Sometimes I really think that Becks is making a huge mistake by setting off to the US. He is going to be in for a big disappoint — especially in not being either chicken or steak.
You give the fan base here far too much credit. Most are likely “soccer moms” who have a child that knows more about the game than they do.
I don’t believe many of the fans here understand the game well enough for it to matter.
Litmus test: what’s the difference in the German style of play and the Italian style of play?
Answer: More “white guys” play for Germany?
[/comments on stupid American mentality]
Maybe you’ll get more 12 year old girls to go to soccer matches, but even Becks is no longer much of a spring chicken.
The basic problem is that he doesn’t make the game exciting, so Americans will not keep watching a not very exciting player for very long.
R. Carlos is going to play in Turkey? How come? Better money?
I don’t know the whole story. He claims to have wanted to renew for two more years but Real Madrid didn’t want to. He is 34 after all. In Turkey he may get paid a little more for the next three years, and at the end of the day he kind of needs the money. You really don’t earn that much as an unemployed athlete!
The LA Galaxy is one of the weakest MLS teams, and Beckham probably won’t be able to do much about that. I think he will spike interest in the MLS and maybe lead to some other world reknowns to come here. I’m already disappointed though to hear that since he’s playing for England again, he may miss 1/2 or 1/3 of the games he would have played for the Galaxy. Even if he’s not a Jordan type, he brings an excitement with every free kick like no one else.
Well, I do wish him well. That’s for sure.
Caveat Chuckster
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[/fear of omniscient greatness]
Il salvatore di calcio Americano = Zinedine Zidane