It's been nearly three years since the David beckham soccer revolution hit these shores here in the United states, and unfortunately for king david goldenballs, almost none of it has gone to script. Whether it's a team that underperformed spectacularly through his first two seasons, or a revolving door of managers and general managers, or fans who ranged from unimpressed to outright belligerent, the Beckham soccer revolution turned into something more akin to a beckham soccer circus by the time 2009 rolled around.
And now, it looks like the beckham soccer has come to an end. Just this past weekend in Italy, where he was playing on loan to AC Milan of Italy's Serie A, Beckham ruptured his left achilles tendon in a game against Genoa. It's a significant injury, one that has ended the careers of lesser players in earlier days, and one that that has ended Beckham's current soccer dream of representing England in a fourth straight World Cup.
The injury itself looked innocuous enough. Beckham was ten yards from anyone as he planted to receive a pass, and without any contact at all, immediately grabbed for his ankle and started hobbling. After a moment tears - whether of pain, or recognition that his world cup dream had just died, no one but he knows - began streaming down his face as he limped toward the bench, signalling for a substitute. Various press outlets reported that he said "It's broken, it's broken" as he was brought off the field on a stretcher. Less than forty eight hours later, he was undergoing surgery in Finland to repair the damage.
So the Beckham soccer show is done for with the Three Lions, but he's probably not done for good on these shores. The Finnish clinic he went to for surgery is world renowned for their new techniques using platelette rich blood to both speed up and improve the healing process, so injuries that used to be career threatening are now considered routine. Instead of a torn achilles being the epitaph on a player's days on the field, it's now a three to six months ticket to the bench.
Which means that Beckham will be back for the end of the 2010 Los Angeles Galaxy season in Major League Soccer. Though some fans bemoan his lack of dedication to the squad and lack of mobility (even before the injury, Beckham was hardly a speedster), there's no question his class on the ball and ability to pinpoint a pass were a step above what the typical MLS player could provide. It won't be easy to replace that for the Galaxy, but at the least they'll get him back for a late-season playoff push.
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