BECKHAM'S LAST STAND
On a sun-drenched day in Southern California, it's hard to imagine a more peaceful vibe than the one at The Home Depot Center. A dog frolics on the grass in front of the south goal. The scent of honeysuckle fills the air. Landon Donovan leans back in a bleacher seat and shares a wish he wouldn't have dreamed of three years ago: that Los Angeles Galaxy teammate David Beckham extend his expiring contract and turn down overseas suitors (Paris! London!) to return to MLS next year. "Honestly, if you'd asked me going into the season I'd have said, 'I don't know,'" Donovan says, "but after seeing the way he's played, I hope he stays."
Three seasons ago Donovan caused an uproar by criticizing Beckham's commitment (SI, July 6, 2009), but they've since made their peace. After completing the third-best season in the league's 16-year history, Los Angeles (19 wins, five losses, 10 ties) starts its MLS Cup playoff run this Sunday with the win-or-bust goal of raising the trophy in its own stadium after the Cup final on Nov. 20. Though the Galaxy doesn't obliterate opponents—L.A.'s season goal differential is plus-20, far below the MLS record of plus-41 set by the team in 1998—it has a knack for ruthlessly killing off one-goal victories. "They are a machine—and not like a Ferrari but like a Ford truck," says former G.M. Alexi Lalas. "They can get down and dirty, but they can also look classic and powerful in the way they go about their business."
Part of that is due to the defensive discipline instilled by coach Bruce Arena and embodied in towering 23-year-old Defender of the Year candidate Omar Gonzalez. But much credit also goes to Donovan and Beckham, both top contenders for league MVP. Donovan, despite playing most of the season as a flank midfielder rather than in his typical striker role, scored 12 goals (tied for fifth in MLS) and at 29 is still regarded by most coaches as the league's best player. He says he felt "miserable" as MLS's top scorer in '08 because the Galaxy failed to make the playoffs, but he's comfortable in his new role as a setup man on a dominant team. "Some days I won't even get in front of the goal the whole game, but it'll help us win," he says. "That's been a learning process, but I enjoy it a lot more."
As for Beckham, now 36, he's had his finest season since joining MLS in 2007, finishing second in the league with 15 assists. Healthy all year after suffering a torn left Achilles in '10 and freed of his duties with the England national team, Beckham has made the Galaxy his top priority—and has played like it. He remains world-class in dead-ball situations, and from his deep-lying spot in the central midfield he can feather passes onto a teammate's foot from 40 yards away. "In our league his ability to hold the ball in that position and pass makes him unique," says Arena. "He's right in the middle of things. In every game, he touches the ball the most of any player." The quality survives: Beckham is a lock to make MLS's Best XI for the first time.
Perhaps most important, Beckham and Donovan have discovered a way not only to coexist but also to complement each other. Their vision and grasp of the game have always stood out from their teammates', and over the past three seasons, as L.A. has risen to the top, the two have gradually reached an understanding. "Landon and David figured out they didn't have to be best friends," says Tim Leiweke, the hard-driving president of AEG, which owns the Galaxy. "When they get on the pitch, their chemistry is good right now." Good enough, in fact, that L.A. has enjoyed a historic season despite having no go-to striker until the team signed Irish star Robbie Keane from Tottenham Hotspur in August. (Keane says he hopes to be recovered from an adductor strain by the second game of the playoffs.)
Of course, one big difference between U.S. and European soccer is that the former has playoffs: In MLS the best team can still fall short when it matters most. Such was the case with L.A. in 2010. "It's always important to stamp your authority on a season, and I think we've done that in the last few years, especially this year," Beckham says. "But it's not over yet. With the playoffs you can end up winning the Supporters' Shield [for best regular-season record] and then go out in the first round. We have to stay focused." Just as Beckham needed to win an important trophy with Real Madrid (the '06--07 league title) to validate his four years in Spain, the same could be said for his time in MLS.
The cold truth: If this ends up being Beckham's last season with the Galaxy, what happens in the next month will seal his on-field legacy in America.
The man who brought Beckham to America smiles. Sitting in his office overlooking the AEG-owned Staples Center and its $2.5 billion L.A. Live entertainment district, Leiweke is allowed some satisfaction that the Beckham experiment turned around after its first two seasons were marked by chaos among team management, four coaches and zero playoff berths. Leiweke's latest ambitious project is to bring an NFL team and a new football stadium to L.A., but he still keeps close tabs on the Galaxy for his billionaire boss, AEG founder Phil Anschutz (known as Saint Phil in soccer circles for his willingness to bankroll much of the league when it was struggling financially). Leiweke's take: Beckham's value remains high 4½ years after joining MLS.
"It's the same as when we got him," Leiweke says. "David is going to get us attention as a league, a sport and a team, and whether it's good or bad attention, he's going to take us to the next level. Look at the league today. There are 19 teams [for 2012, up from 10 in '02 and 14 when Beckham joined in '07]. The Galaxy is a $100 million--plus asset. We want to be the first club in the history of soccer in this country—including the New York Cosmos—to do $100 million of gross revenue a year and join the elite in the rest of the world. We've got some years ahead of us to do that, but we could never have had that conversation without David Beckham."
Perhaps, but it's clear that in pursuit of a long-awaited major trophy, the Galaxy now treats Beckham more like a soccer player and less like a human cash register. For a change the team did not schedule a lucrative but energy-draining preseason tour overseas in 2011. And neither Beckham nor Donovan went out on off-season loans to European teams from January to March, giving the players time to rest but also shutting off that potential revenue. Add in other major expenses—including Keane's transfer fee (between $3 million and $6 million) and $3.4 million salary, and the costs of a high-powered coaching staff—and L.A. will be in the red for 2011. "We've made money in some years of this five-year experiment," says Leiweke, "but this year we knew we were going to lose money because of a few decisions we made."
Nor does the Galaxy feel as much pressure to use Beckham in every road game, even though his presence still causes modest attendance spikes. In exchange for approving the so-called Beckham Rule in '06 (allowing teams to sign a player whose salary isn't constrained by the leaguewide cap), MLS's owners emphasized how important it was for Beckham to appear at their stadiums. Now, says Arena, "if David needs a break, he gets a break." Translation: It's the soccer, stupid.
For his part Arena is back in the highest echelon of American coaching. The Bruce, as he's known, was the biggest personality in U.S. soccer before World Cup '06, having led the Yanks to the quarterfinals four years earlier, on top of his two MLS titles with D.C. United. But his reputation dimmed after a first-round exit in Germany and a short, unfulfilling stint coaching the New York Red Bulls. Since arriving in '08, Arena has overhauled the Galaxy roster, acquiring steady performers, from goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and forwards Mike Magee and Chad Barrett to midfielder Juninho and defenders Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter and Frankie Hejduk. Arena also made smart draft picks in defenders Gonzalez and A.J. DeLaGarza.
When this week's playoffs start, Arena will try to become the first coach to win three MLS titles. "I know it feels good for him because he went through a hard stretch where his ego took a big hit," says Donovan, who started playing for Arena in 2000 with the U.S., "but maybe that was the best thing to happen to him, to go through a difficult time. He has the same passion to win, but he's a little more at ease now, and I think that relaxes the team."
The 60-year-old Arena says he's "playing with house money" and could retire at any time, though he'd like to remain in a management role, perhaps continuing as L.A.'s general manager or taking on an executive position like the one Joe Torre has with Major League Baseball. It's also fair to say the famous Arena ego is alive and well. "Every team I've had, I've probably done a better job than anyone else could have done with that team," Arena says. "Unfortunately, I worked for people who didn't necessarily understand that, but that's O.K. They continue to prove that, and I continue to prove what I can do."
Will Beckham return to L.A. in 2012 after his Galaxy contract ends in December? Tottenham and fellow London-based Premier League club Queens Park Rangers have said they're interested in signing him, but the most intriguing suitor is Paris Saint-Germain, which was recently purchased by the Qatar Investment Authority. Paris would presumably be an ideal fit for his fashion-conscious wife, Victoria, but Beckham also says he and his family "love it" in Southern California. The Beckhams recently had their fourth child—and first daughter, Harper Seven—and their oldest son, Brooklyn, is playing on the Galaxy's under-13 academy team (wearing his dad's number 23). "We'll see at the end of the season" is all Beckham will say about his future.
AEG's Leiweke, however, is a lot more forceful. "I think David is loyal to us," he says. "Despite all the rumors and bulls--- out there about David going to France or the Premier League, David only leaves the Galaxy if David and we decide that. In fact, I believe David will be here again next year. People can make any offer they want. The loyalty he has to this club because of the way we have treated him and stood by him is going to be rewarded if we so choose to continue with David."
What happens on the field in the next month may influence that decision. If it wins the 2011 title, this Galaxy outfit has a chance to stake a claim as the finest team in MLS history, not least because the two clubs before it that finished with better records (the 1998 Galaxy and the 2005 San Jose Earthquakes) failed to win the MLS Cup final. No one knows the crapshoot nature of the playoffs better than Donovan, who won three titles (2001, '03, '05) by the age of 23 but has yet to add another. "My thinking was, Every other year I'd win a Cup," he says. "Now I realize how difficult it is. The league gets harder and harder."
Big names, healthy egos, high stakes. For a league that's still growing, MLS couldn't ask for much more.
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IF THE GALAXY WINS THE 2011 TITLE, IT CAN STAKE A CLAIM AS THE FINEST TEAM IN LEAGUE HISTORY. WOULD BECKHAM THEN RETURN IN '12? "WE'LL SEE," IS ALL HE'LL SAY ABOUT HIS FUTURE.
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Photograph by KEVIN JAIRAJ/US PRESSWIRE
GALACTICOS Once riven over matters of leadership and commitment, Donovan and Beckham worked through their differences and formed a lethal combination this season.
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JORGE CRUZ/LANDOV
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STEPHEN DUNN/GETTY IMAGES
BEAUTIFUL GAMER Donovan played mostly on the wing this season rather than in his traditional striker role and now says he's as satisfied setting up others for goals as he is scoring them.
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STEPHEN DUNN/GETTY IMAGES
THE THICK OF IT Arena (right) moved Beckham into a deep-lying position in central midfield, the better to exploit his ball control and pinpoint passing. The result: 67 points for Los Angeles, third most alltime in MLS.
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JASON REDMOND/AP
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