Boo him like Beckham, American dream is over

By Simon Evans -Analysis

MIAMI (Reuters) - He was supposed to be the man who would take soccer in the United States to the next level yet David Beckham is in danger of becoming an embarrassing liability to the game in the country.

On a weekend when 65,000 people turned out for a friendly match in Seattle, 82,000 watched a Gold Cup game in Dallas and the U.S. national team continued their impressive form with another victory, the soccer news was all about Beckham being booed by his own fans.

The fans wrote their own headlines -- "Go Home Fraud" read one bluntly worded banner draped over a section of the Galaxy stadium while another made the point in a more eloquent manner: "Hey Becks, here before you, here after you, here despite you."

American soccer fans were not supposed to be following L.A Galaxy despite Beckham -- the plan was they would fall in love with the team because of the celebrity midfielder.

A significant section of the L.A. fans have turned against Beckham for one simple reason -- he turned his back on them.

Beckham's decision to spend the Major League Soccer (MLS) off-season, from January to March, playing on loan for AC Milan in Italy, was grudgingly accepted at the time it was announced. When he decided to stay until the end of the Serie A season and so miss the first half of the MLS campaign it was a different matter.

Sports pundit Jay Mariotti, a regular on radio and television sports talk shows, wrote on Monday: "Beckham came here two years ago intending to lift Major League Soccer to unprecedented heights, but when he abruptly abandoned his stated mission in January for more prestigious duty in his native Europe, his purported goal became phony and rather pathetic."

Perhaps, the 34-year-old could have patched up things with his fans, and other supporters of the game in the U.S, if he had returned and apologised for letting them down.