Welcome to America, Mr. Ljungberg
March 29th, 2009 . 6:54 am . By: DJ WalkerKyle Beckerman is one of those players you simultaneously hate (soccer hate, not real hate, which the world has enough of, thank you very much) and covet (soccer coveting, not like, 10 Commandments coveting, which would be kinda creepy in this case). While you’re screaming unkind things at him, you’re secretly wishing he was on your team, because he’s tough, smart, and never fails to play his guts out. He is the epitome of the phrase “Fight for the Shirt”. This opinion, for me, was solidified Saturday night watching Beckerman mark Seattle Sounders DP Freddie Ljungberg. Every time Beckerman came within a yard of Freddie, Freddie go down. Right on his surgically repaired hip. It was great. Categorically not dirty, but tough-as-nails, no-quarter-given professional marking. You could almost hear the kid saying “How’s the leg, Grampa? Makin’ two million this year, are ya? Enjoying that Field Turf?” There are certain players that I would never accept in Hoops. Most of them are Dema Kovalenko. But I’d take Beckerman in a heartbeat; I’d forgive him all his trespasses and welcome him to the family like the Prodigal Son, just like I did Carlos Ruiz when he came to town from the Dirty Dirty Galaxy. To his credit, there wasn’t a hint of whining or crying from Ljungberg when Beckerman put him on the ground; he just got up and played. He spent nine years in England, after all. MLS rough stuff will be like a friendly back rub to this guy. At the end of the season, however, I think Seattle are going to realize they gave all that DP money to the wrong Freddie. They’re going to need some of Drew Carey’s ‘The Price is Right’ Christmas bonus cash to keep Fredy Montero around, and they should. That kid can play. 7 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Montero will go the way of Toja and transfer to a European team for a nice transfer fee. This will be fantastic for the league. MLS has to develop an image as a springboard league.
You can’t build a marketing campaign in the US around a kid who hasn’t proven himself on the national team and/or European stage.
But you can make a nice profit off of them.
Deliberately fouling another player is in fact dirty play. That is why the rules forbid it. We all accept that, inevitably, some of this will go on, but glorifying a player who deliberately and persistently fouls his opponent is a scourge on the game.
I was at the game last night and I thought your post was hysterical. And I agree with you about Beckerman — every time I watch him play, I wish he was on my team. But it was also kind of nice to blank his team.
Also, Montero is just on loan to Seattle. He’s actually owned by Deportivo Cali, so, sadly, any huge transfer fee that results from his play here in Seattle would go to them, not us (unless there’s something in the contract I’m not aware of.)
Don, I don’t think he fouled him the times he put him on the ground, he just tackled him hard. I agree with you in principle, I just don’t think your point applies here.
Laurie, thanks for the info, I didn’t know he was a loan.
He actually made Beckerman look silly…but good try.
DJ Thank you for acknowledging the principle, but I must still ask then why did you write: “Every time Beckerman came within a yard of Freddie, Freddie go down. Right on his surgically repaired hip. It was great.” We are responsible for what we write.
Don, I wrote it because I like to see good hard soccer. I like to see a guy playing tough defense and not giving any deference to an established star. Freddie Ljungberg is a grownup, and he can take it. Just because a guy is knocked down, that doesn’t make it dirty play. Sometimes good defense requires that your man gets knocked down. That’s part of it. Nothing irresponsible or sinister there; just soccer.