THE YANKS GET CARRIED AWAY
Last updated : 13 December 2002 By Editor
USA Today shows the bitterness of a blue...
Manchester United. World's biggest soccer club. Home of David Beckham, whose worldwide cult of personality makes Michael Jordan and Barry Bonds look insignificant by comparison. Led by the legendary Alex Ferguson … pardon me, Sir Alex Ferguson.
All wimps. Cowards. Pretty boys taking the easy road like a champion boxer ducking the top contender.
You see, Manchester United is coming to the United States next summer. Great, you say. Let's see them take on the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl, and perhaps they can face the New England Revolution in Foxboro.
Sorry. They're bringing their own opponents. Celtic, Barcelona and Juventus. And Club America, which is not the '70s laid-back rock trio but a big fish in the little pond that is Mexican soccer. They'll be riding their horse with no name up Ventura Boulevard to face the Golden Hair Sisters at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which is clinging to the notion that it's a viable soccer venue despite the presence of the Rose Bowl and the Galaxy's new stadium. Barcelona and Juventus will take time out from making Man U even richer by playing each other July 27 in Foxboro.
Can't blame them, I suppose, for ducking MLS opposition. Ruud van Nistelrooy knows he can't put any shots past Kevin Hartman and Adin Brown. These aren't the second-rate Scandinavian goalkeepers he faces in England, where the only star keeper is former MLS player Brad Friedel.
And the Neville brothers would rather shank the ball into the third row 20 times a game than try to contain Carlos Ruiz or Taylor Twellman in a preseason game.
Going to Giants Stadium to face Juventus is questionable. If there's any justice, stadium officials will already have painted NFL lines all over the field so Beckham, Keane and company can get the full experience of being the MetroStars for a day. Still, that game should be worth the price of admission.
But the kicker is the L.A. date, which shows the patronizing attitude some folks in England's soccer community still bear toward the game in the U.S.
Apparently, someone still thinks Mexican soccer is a giant leap up from MLS, results from all manner of recent international competition notwithstanding.
Yet these were simple preseason tours with little publicity. Can you imagine the headlines if Manchester United made a Beatles-style landing in New York and then lost to the MetroStars?
Manchester United can. Perhaps they figure it'll be easier to explain a loss to a mysterious Mexican team than a loss to (gasp) a bunch of Americans.
Well it's a bit like the Americans turning up in Iraq to take on Osa Bin Lid
