Depth, humility, and beating David Beckham
Notes from Week 2 in MLS. Philly Union, Lionel Messi, David Beckham.
What cold hard truths could be made of Week Two in MLS?
Early inclinations at best, I’d say. Rust wearing off, rhythms getting found, and for the Union specifically? A perhaps necessary humbling, according to Jim Curtin.
Miami outplayed Philadelphia. In the days prior, Phil Neville provided default praise for the opposition. He also said, “we know what to expect”, several times.
Maybe in knowing what to expect, they knew how to counter it. Maybe Philly just had a bad night. They lost, 2-0.
Philly’s oft-lauded backline made mistakes. The MLS Goalkeeper of (last) Year conceded every shot on target (which, admittedly, perhaps graciously, numbered two).
Both shots were launched confidently from far out, fired from a Miami-midfield that was dominating. Union failed to react confidently in response.
How much stake should be placed in that Fort-Lauderdale-loss?
Just a few stray notes worth watching. Chalk it up to a bad time on a muggy night. Half the squad looked noticeably off-kilter. Heck, even Bedoya wasn’t communicating, and Kai Wagner couldn’t cross.
Name it an anomaly. Bunch it up and throw it out.
As Curtin often tells his team after conceding: what matters now is the response.
Curtin’s crew flew to El Salvador the day following, arriving Sunday to play Tuesday at Estadio Cuscatlan. They shifted minds to continental competition, arriving to Central America in a short window of time.
Rotation arrived. Curtin replaced every starter save Wagner, Elliott, and Blake. Beside them, hungry young academy products and newly signed depth pieces battled on a rugged, torn-up pitch.
They drew 0-0. We learned as much about depth as we did Alianza. It was a victory on both fronts, all things tallied up.
And in true Concacaf flavor, the most viral moment was when an exuberant pup was let inexplicably out of the stands, then ran onto the pitch to have a go at the ball. Let the absurdities not go uncelebrated.
Both teams now head to Philadelphia, determining final fates Tuesday at Subaru Park.
And yet, never mind the early season lessons of humility. Never mind the depth test and the off-kilter nights down south. The name looming over the last week like a phantom, like a pesky and famous phantom that Philly will need to defeat somehow, is David Beckham.
Indeed, David Beckham.
For David and his tropical-American legacy called Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami may yet swallow the Union’s eastern dominance. They may yet swallow all of MLS, in fact. They might do so in ways we’ve not even foreseen yet.
Though, we have foreseen one way. And that way is Lionel Messi, la pulga atomica, la G.O.A.T.
Reading into to recent reports from The Athletic, the idea that the world’s greatest footballer may depart football in Europe to play soccer in Florida seems possible. Nay, not just possible. Likely! Happening as soon as this summer, perhaps.
A main question is how. And that how has global appeal with deep pockets attached.
That how is also part of the legacy of David Beckham, whose arrival in MLS caused a stir only Messi could beat. Perhaps, soon he will.
Indeed, Beckham’s arrival in MLS involved a creative, enticing agreement whose long term fulfillment means Beckham (partially) owns a club in Miami. It was a league-shifting agreement. It changed expectation for what it would take- and what would be granted- to lure the biggest stars from overseas.
From the looks of it, Messi’s agreement would need to meet or beat David Beckham’s.
Don Garber indicated to The Athletic that agreement-creativity is indeed being well thought out. Stadium-adjacent real estate, plus some form of club ownership seem to be cards on the table. What else it will take to lure Messi (and beat the Beckham agreement) we’ll have to see.
Should Leo join us, the ensuing spectacle would likely beat Beckham’s too. And may I remind you: Beckham’s arrival- with all his celebrity in tow- was quite the spectacle.
One can only hope they’d bestow something as oddly-entertaining as the “Victoria Beckham: Coming to America” documentary, wherein we watched Posh Spice stumble over driving through the Hollywood Hills on the wrong side of the road.
At the club level, Miami is aware everything from the facilities to security to match tactics to the roster would change. The allure of their brand would change, too– with newfound global zeal, and Messi making waves domestically.
Across MLS, fans of casual and committed stripe would pack stadiums to see the visitor. Perhaps even the soccer-skeptical would emerge. Perhaps Apple TV subscriptions would double in a week, perhaps they’d double worldwide.
We’ve yet to see, exactly.
But Messi would bring more than just his name to MLS.
He’d bring his name to MLS in a moment when the country has never been more ready to adore this sport. Pele and Beckham arrived in a different time. The young gen is into soccer. The Premier League has never been more popular. And Messi in Miami could mean beautiful-game-only connoisseurs might train their eyes on domestic shores. (Or, so Don would hope).
In contrast to all of this would be Philadelphia. For Philadelphia’s ownership-ethos involves spending at the bottom of the MLS table. As a club (from academy on up) Philly produces lots but spends little. It’s a frugal approach that plays some part in the well-maintained role as a ‘David’, for a club performing otherwise as a ‘Goliath’ at the top.
They’ve also plodded their way toward success without the quick-hit thrill of big name, marquee star. It’s worked thus far. It would be hard to argue otherwise.
But could it continue to work in a bright new, Messi-era MLS? Will it work long-term, in an era when new arrivals begin to beat the star-power spending limits defined and expanded by the arrival of even David Beckham?
The future knows more than me.
But for all due admiration to the present system pumping out consistency at Subaru Park, I’ve spent the past week under sneaking suspicion that the legacy of David Beckham in MLS may have new chapters for us yet. Those chapters may include the arrival of Lionel Messi. They may include the upward trajectory of Inter Miami- evident already, growing expoentially should Leo arrive. And they may include further shifts to how agreements in MLS operate themself.
Philadelphia has a long season ahead of them, and newfound expectations to fight. Should they meet expectation, they’ll need to consider a new power growing in the east. Longer term, they’ll need to consider its implications.
For assuredly once more, then perhaps again in the playoffs, the doggedly successful Union will find themselves face to face with a team powered by a star whose legend beats even David Beckham.
Great article I can’t but not be sad that grant wahl is not with us to see the outcome of this process. Maybe there a book to write about it. I know he would have been great to read his view point on it.