Blow It Like Beckham

Sports Illustrated previews Grant Wahl’s new book on the “soccer fiasco” that David Beckham spawned upon his arrival to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. Landon Donovan features prominently in the shit talking.

A few excerpts for your dome:

David Beckham is a cheapskate.

Donovan recalled two exchanges that had taken place just the week before. On successive days he had met with Yallop and Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas, and each had told him that “people above me” — meaning Tim Leiweke, CEO of AEG, which owned the Galaxy — thought Beckham should be the team captain. Both men tried to sugarcoat the blow. “I don’t really look at who has the armband,” Yallop told Donovan. “You’re a leader to me, a great player. It would just be great if you could have a relationship with David and you pass it on to him.” Lalas, for his part, issued Donovan a challenge: “Let him be the captain; you be the star.” What they didn’t tell Donovan was that the request that he give up his captaincy had originated not with Leiweke but with Beckham’s camp. …

By July 2008, moreover, the L.A. players had seen enough to realize that Beckham might be a good teammate, but he wasn’t much of a captain. It was one thing to take part in team events, the Galaxy players felt, but it was another thing to lead, to rally the players during tough times and defend the greater good of the team with the coach and the front office. Donovan noticed several things. For one, when Gullit gave the players an optional practice day, Beckham rarely showed up. (”As the captain you should at least come in and show your face,” Donovan said.)  …

By now, in fact, Donovan no longer agreed with the “good teammate, bad captain” verdict that so many other Galaxy players had reached on Beckham. Donovan was convinced that Beckham wasn’t even a good teammate anymore: “He’s not. He’s not shown that. I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good teammate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care. But with [Beckham] I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.”

The most fascinating aspect of Donovan’s barrage was the even manner in which he delivered it. He sounded like a scientist revealing the findings of an experiment. The way Donovan saw it, he was just sharing his conclusions about a coworker, one who happened to be David Beckham.

Donovan didn’t know what would come next, but he did know that things would have to change if he and Beckham were teammates in 2009. “Let’s say he does stay here three more years,” Donovan said. “I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f—— miserable. I don’t want to have soccer be this way.”

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/06/29/beckham.book/index.html?eref=si_soccer