From Soccer to Football

I know many Americans have not yet warmed up to football (ok, soccer) despite the fact that Major League Soccer has been around for several years now. However, I think it’s safe to say that they’re not oblivious as to who David Beckham or Zinedine Zidane is.

David Beckaham’s popularity in the United States has been on a galactic rise ever since the LA Galaxies offered him a multi-million dollar playing contract. Posh Spice’s hubby quickly nodded to the deal. Beckham has been languishing on the Real Madrid Bench these past few months. It’s not surprising then that he quickly shook hands with the LA Galaxy owners.

As for Zidane, he attained notoriety when he head-butted an Italian player during the finals of the FIFA World Cup. Every head-butting incident in all sporting events has since been unfairly (I’m a Zidane fan) attributed to him.

I’m saddened by the fact that some only know him as the ill-tempered head-butt-er. There’s so much to Zidane than that unfortunate incident. If you’ll conduct a background check on him, you’ll see that he’s a great person on and off the field. Just recently, he played in a charity match in Thailand. One of the things that I admire about him most is his inclination to participate in humanitarian efforts or projects of the United Nations and other non-profit organizations.

I hope that the arrival of Beckham would spark a football renaissance in the United States. Football fever in America has waned after the year (1994) that it hosted the World Cup. I would also like to see Beckham prove that the MLS is not a graveyard for aging or falling European football stars. It’s a budding league compared to its South American and European counterparts. However, it has the resources and the fan base to propel the game to where basketball and baseball are in the country.