David Beckham’s improbable comebacks keep coming around almost as frequently as new haircuts. The England midfield player is beaming as he shows off his latest hairstyle in a luxury hotel suite high above the Seattle skyline, a wavy little number that is unlikely to survive the storms forecast for this northwestern outpost on Sunday, when the Los Angeles Galaxy meet Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup final.
Beckham will cope with the odd stray hair as he strives to win only his second trophy since leaving Manchester United in 2003 in a match that again demonstrates his remarkable penchant for overcoming adversity.
Beckham describes his career as one long rollercoaster ride, a pattern that has continued since moving to the land of the theme park. As someone who witnessed his underwhelming, injury-plagued start in this country first hand 2½ years ago, not to mention the jeers and derision that greeted his return to Los Angeles from AC Milan in the summer, it seemed inconceivable that Beckham’s American adventure could end happily.
But with the Galaxy preparing for their first final since Beckham joined the club and his name already pencilled into Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad, the 34-year-old has done what he enjoys most of all; proving people wrong.
“I’ve never really had a steady line throughout my career,” Beckham said. “It’s always kind of been a rollercoaster. I’ve had more ups than downs, of course, but there have been those moments that have been difficult. I’ve always felt that the best way to respond is to work hard and to play the game. Usually that’s been good enough.
“It’s worked out well with England, and I’d like to think I’ve proved people wrong. There are always going to be some critics saying this was a bad move, but being successful with the team this year has changed a few people’s minds, I’m sure.”
Beckham’s time in the United States can be seen as a microcosm of his career, featuring disappointment, rejection and even vilification before the ultimate vindication. The lows may not have been as low as those he experienced earlier in his career — a national scapegoat after his sending-off at the 1998 World Cup, forced to train with the reserves at Real Madrid by Capello and dropped from the England squad by Steve McClaren — but being branded a “fraud” and “evil” on banners carried by one’s own supporters would have been too much for weaker characters to bear.
As on those previous occasions, he has turned it around by using criticism as a source of inspiration, as he demonstrated when confronting a Galaxy fan who abused him during his first match back in Los Angeles in July, a friendly against Milan. In addition to always playing with a smile on his face, improving results have helped, too, and after winning only one of their first 13 matches without Beckham, the Galaxy recovered to win the Western Conference.
“It was hostile, but I had it a lot worse in 1998 so it was a walk in the park compared to that,” Beckham said. “My family didn’t receive any abuse or anything like that, which was the one good thing. If my kids had been at school in 1998, I think it would have been a different story. Going to different grounds and being booed is never nice, but there are a lot worse things that happen in life.
“I actually didn’t mind the criticism and it was something I looked forward to. I was looking forward to coming back and knew it was going to be hostile, but that’s something I’ve always responded pretty well to. It’s always nice to have fans, especially your own fans, on your side, but there’s nothing I could have done about it at the start. I knew once I got playing that there was a chance of turning it around.
“Confronting that fan wasn’t really that much of a problem for me. There were a lot of people who were not happy with me, which I understood to a certain extent, but I wasn’t going to stand for that.”
The quality of his family life is one of the main reasons for his enduring commitment to the MLS, which, despite the furore over his late start to the season, is stronger than it has ever been. Beckham has relinquished the opt-out clause in his Galaxy contract as part of the deal that secured a second loan spell at Milan from next January, ensuring he will stay in LA until the end of 2011. Beckham’s contract also contains a clause enabling him to buy into an MLS franchise the year after and such is his desire to stay in North America that negotiations have already started with a view to investing in the Montreal Impact, who hope to join the league in 2012.
Beckham is clearly in no rush to come home. An even broader grin than usual comes over his face when discussing his life in Beverly Hills, with ten-year-old Brooklyn filling the £15 million house with pets and already surpassing his self-deprecating father’s academic achievements.
“One of the main attractions of living here is that the kids can go to school as normal,” he said. “The other children kind of know who they are, but it’s not a huge thing. They get treated as normal little boys, which is exactly how they should be treated. The kids love it. They’re happy at school and are getting to the age now, especially Brooklyn, where they need to be settled at school and getting good grades.
“I sat down with him the other day to do his homework and I couldn’t understand a word of it. It’s so complicated that I just help him with his reading. We promised him recently that if he got three As we’d buy him a bearded dragon lizard, which is my worst nightmare. He came home from school the other day and handed me three sheets of paper with three As on it, so we had to go to Petco.
“Our house is full of wildlife at the moment, crickets, lizards and all sorts, but they deserve it. Brooklyn works hard at school and then does an hour and a half homework every night. He doesn’t have time to play football at the moment, as he goes to baseball practice and plays flag American football, which is non-contact, but he still loves having a kick-around with me. As long as they’re involved in any sport, I don’t mind, as it’s so important for kids to be active.”
Leaving his new home in January will clearly be a wrench — the family plan to stay in the US when he moves to Milan — with his willingness to do so further evidence of his enduring commitment to England, because returning to Europe represents his only chance of appearing at a fourth successive World Cup finals. The former captain has been in all of Capello’s recent squads when available, but will not be convinced of his place in the final 23 until he boards the plane.
“I’m dedicated to going to South Africa and wouldn’t leave my family for six months if I wasn’t,” he said. “It’s not something I’m looking forward to. I don’t want to be away from my wife and children for that length of time, but it’s probably the last time I’ll do it. I’m so honoured that Milan have given me the chance to go back, but the hope of playing for England is the only reason I’m doing it.”
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11-21-2009, 01:43 AM
David Beckham enjoying walk on the wild side in Los Angeles
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