David Beckham partakes in a light practice on Friday in Seattle. (Kevin P. Casey/Associated Press)Maybe David Beckham hasn't had the impact on North American soccer like Pele once did, but he can emulate the Brazilian legend in one regard.
Pele helped the New York Cosmos to the North American Soccer League championship in his third season in 1977. It would be his last professional season, with retirement soon to follow.
Beckham, in his third season with the Los Angeles Galaxy, can be part of a Major League Soccer Cup win on Sunday night against Real Salt Lake.
Beckham is three years younger than Pele was at the same North American juncture and doesn't foresee retirement any time soon.
"I'd like to say I've got a good two or three, maybe four years left in me," Beckham said. "Have to wait and see and take it week by week, month by month and year by year, especially being 34 years old. … But I feel good and I feel really fit. I'm playing a lot of soccer and I'm enjoying it."
The mind may be willing, but is the body? The midfielder has been hobbled by a right ankle injury and has been receiving injections to deal with the pain.
With plans to again play for AC Milan and — he hopes — England at the 2010 World Cup, it raises a legitimate question as to whether he'll be any kind of factor next year for the Galaxy.
But in the here and now, he can help Los Angeles win a third MLS championship in a record sixth appearance in the finals. The franchise has not won it all since 2005.
Salt Lake's success, meanwhile, gives hope to a team struggling to get over the hump like Toronto FC. RSL finished under .500 in the regular season but got hot at the right time to reach the final, just like New York last year.
In fact, Toronto FC was the last team to beat Salt Lake, 1-0 on Oct. 17. Since then, they have outscored opponents 7-2 en route to four straight wins.
Robbie Findley has been the big offensive threat, scoring four of those goals.
Findley nearly scored the winner last week against Chicago in the Eastern Conference final, but the ball was cleared from the goal-line.
Instead, RSL prevailed on the seventh round of a shootout. Keeper Nick Rimando was the hero, stopping three shots in the shootout.
Los Angeles gathered up a bushel of individual MLS awards, but Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis has been relishing his team's underdog role, and said his team is loose and ready.
It's a far cry from the beginning of the season, which included a string of seven games without a win for a team that returned many players who competed in the conference final last year.
"I think I added to what was a little bit of an underlying thing on the team that we were a bit overconfident going into this season," said Kreis. "We had been reading a bit too much about how we would compete for a championship this year, and we forgot the little things that got us here. We don’t have stars on our team, and we had got away from that a little bit."
Salt Lake has the respect of the Galaxy after going 1-0-1 against them this season. Both those games occurred before mid-June, with Beckham still in Italy.
Los Angeles would turn a mediocre season around in the second half, leading to Bruce Arena being named MLS coach of the year last week. Defender Omar Gonzalez was named rookie of the year, and Landon Donovan took home league most valuable player honours.
For all the big names on the club, it was veteran defender Gregg Berhalter who was the hero in the West final last week. Berhalter scored his first ever goal for the Galaxy in the 103rd minute, with Donovan following up with the clincher in a 2-0 win over Houston.
Donovan Ricketts recorded his second straight shutout.
MLS Cup finals in the past have often been rollicking, back-and-forth affairs, but the statistics don't portend such a game. Neither club has lost this season when scoring the first goal.
The game will take place at Qwest Field in Seattle, with over 40,000 expected to attend the 14th championship in MLS history.
