No Real Winners in Galaxy v Chelsea Charade

I ask just one question. Now that David Beckham’s LA Galaxy debut is over, who gained anything from it? Think about that for a second. Other than generating money, who were the winners now that the friendly is complete?

It certainly wasn’t the spectators or TV viewers who were fed a very drab game of soccer. In a match that had the potential of winning new fans to the sport of soccer, the match was a miserable failure lacking the passion, technique and pace that’s so synonymous with the finer aspects of the game.

Chelsea certainly didn’t gain much from the result. The performance by the men in blue was uninspiring. Plenty of chances fell into their player’s laps but sailed over the crossbar or around the post. Judging by this performance, the Blues have a lot of ground to make up before they can hope to compete on the same level as Man United who they’ll face in the Community Shield on August 5.

ESPN’s coverage of the event was embarrassing at times. The presentation of the match resembled the Academy Awards with interviews on the red carpet with celebrities before the match and, shockingly, cutting away from the game to interviews with Hollywood celebrities while the match was being played.

The winners of the Galaxy versus Chelsea match were the accountants. Whether it was the merchandise sold, the revenue from tickets or the money coming in from the expensive advertising slots, the victors were the people counting the revenue generated from this event. I won’t even call it a soccer match because it was anything but that. The match was about hype. It had nothing to do with soccer but everything to do with capitalism.