Quote:
Originally Posted by Sowa
Beckham is important for the growth in the US. I wish the rest of the league would have followed in the Galaxy's path and made a play for some of the bigger stars. Maybe throw money at Cristian Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Wayne Rooney (even though I hate that guy), or other stars that are either up and coming or still in their prime....
Btw although the MLS is the biggest joke of a league to most. It really has some good football. One thing I think it has over pretty much every other league save Mexico is the physicality. There's a lot more rough play and less diving in the MLS than the Euro leagues.
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I would beg to differ with this opinion. I'll give you the fact that there's a lot of diving in the European and South American Leagues but the physicality aspect is very much a presence in most European Leagues, specially in Italy...just look at how many times Ronaldo was injured during his stint with Inter Milan.
Fact is that European leagues are more exciting to watch by far and not only because of the number of superstars, the prestige of these historic clubs makes European football what it is. Even in South America with clubs like Boca Jrs., River Plate, Santos, Flamengo and even San Lorenzo now, these leagues have better quality football.
Don't get me wrong, I think that the MLS is improving and that's a good thing for the developement of North American football. There's still a long way to go before we see MLS clubs with a lot of big names on their rosters. Players like Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney might find their way to the MLS later on in their careers but not now, not when they still have a lot to give in European and International football.
Becks is probably the biggest name so far on a very short list of notable players to be a part of the MLS, but at 32 Becks doesn't really have too much longer in the game. I hope I'm wrong about that because it would be great to see him play in another world cup. I'm glad that he's leaving Europe as a champion after having a real amazing last run with Real Madrid. He had an amazing last third of the season after being benched for most of it when he signed with Galaxy. Now with a lot of European teams trying to keep Becks in Europe on loan for a year, his coming this July will be huge, short lived, but huge. I say short lived because after missing the first half of the season Becks will miss the last six games to go play for England in Euro 2008 qualifiers, country before club.
So the real effect of Becks in the MLS might not really be felt until next season. His short stint, while he's playing as good as he has been lately, will probably be a huge boost for the league but still not enough to even begin to compare the MLS with any European and South American leagues, even on the physicality level.