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Text Portrait of David Beckham by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer

30 years ago yesterday, August 14th, Pele and his Cosmos played in front of nearly 78000 fans at the Meadowlands during their NASL game against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. It’s routinely called “the largest crowd to see a soccer game in the U.S.” It dawned on me as I was reminded of this fact on Pardon the Interruption last night – Wilbon did take it to Tony for badgering soccer. Horrah WIlbon! – that we have the conincidence of welcoming David Beckham to the same location so close to that anniversary.

The speculation and comparisons could run rampant – Can Beckham draw more fans being just one – but the announcement yesterday that Beckham will play in the SuperLiga match tonight between the Galaxy and DC United (10pm EST, Telefutura) is putting his (and tri-state area fans’) weekend plans into doubt.

“It’s not perfect yet, but I think I can at least play half a game tomorrow,” Beckham told the Associated Press. Ives over at SBI was quick to relate the announcement to Beckham’s probable inability to bounce back for the Red Bulls game on Saturday night, something I’m guessing most NY-area fans thought of in dread. We saw this scenario happen when Mr. Major played in DC last week but not in New England over the weekend. By the way, that last link is from the Sporting News publishing an AP story on Posh Spice’s (over)use of the word ‘major’: last gasps from what was once the finest sports paper in the world.

There is also the factor of Giants Stadium’s artificial turf (which Becks and everybody not getting paid by FieldTurf hates to play on), but what is really intriguing here is the priorities of the Galaxy as viewed by how they handle Beckham’s playing time.

Ives’ writes: Should Beckham be playing in tonight’s match? Not really. The Galaxy’s slim playoff hopes are fading fast and rather than give Beckham some good rest they set him on a course to make two cross-country trips in five days, with a non-MLS game in between. Does that really make sense? Did the Galaxy basically tell us that they’ve given up on the MLS playoffs and are going to focus on SuperLiga?

Surely some will argue that prioritizing SuperLiga is the right call for a team all but out of the MLS playoffs, and they will be as right as Ives. Maybe it makes more sense for Becks to play in the SuperLiga which may even draw some Mexican fans to the game even though its two MLS teams playing in it. Ives thinks it makes more sense for Beckham to stay in New York this week, to “rest and rehab his ankle injury with hopes of having him as close to healthy as possible for the Red Bulls match.”

Add Daily PR appearances and press junkets to that resting and rehabbing and we’ve got our problems solved.

The best thing for all parties, and when I say all parties, I mean MLS cutting the source of ammunition for cynics, is to have a round of good faith community reach-outs with Beckham visiting various locations in the Tri-state area throughout the week (Met Oval, Harlem, Pier 40, Chinatown, Central Park ((with a permit)), maybe a park in each of the outer boroughs, and throw New Jersey a bone somewhere as well).

The week would then be capped off with the game at Giants Stadium with him playing as many minutes as his ankle can handle. And I mean that in all sincerity. It’s an honest injury that is being treated as if he doesn’t really want to play by waaaaay too many people who should know better, who are paid to know better… Kornheiser, that’s you, but thank god Monday Night Football has started meaning we get more Wilbon-LeBatard PTI combos which are ridiculously more entertaining and educated than when Kornheiser is present.

I mean, it’s as if Beckham would rather deal with all this crappy-ness than play. Yeah right. And then there is England (Kornheiser suggested Beckham is saving himself for the English friendly on August 22.) If he was playing and killing it here in MLS, his shot at playing and starting for the English National team would be better than it is presently.

I’ve gone on the record voicing my opinion that Beckham means more off the field than on the field for American soccer, and he has gone on the record saying that building the sport here, him being an ambassador for the game, was a big reason for coming to MLS. Well, the ankle injury shouldn’t hamper any ambassador duties, and here is a great chance to follow through on that great hope in the world’s capital.

Wednesday Night Update: I’m happy he played. I think he is too. Not a bad first game. A goal and an assist. How nice was it to see Beckham get his first goal, a classic set piece of course, on Telefutura? It didn’t dawn on me until the game started and there was no Beckham pre-show, no special camera, that something magically had changed from previous Beckham broadcasts. The stadium was even late to fill up. I loved it. The international club tournaments have been a gift this summer.