IBGerm

David Beckham has come under attack from L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.

Donovan turned down his own chance to stay in Europe. Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham’s absence, also questioned the former England skipper’s leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings. “Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain,” he said. “Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn’t happened. And I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us.”

Can Landon Donovan look at David Beckham and be thinking anything good about his teammate? According to the AP, Landon Donovan believes that Beckham has become a bad teammate. “I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good teammate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care,” Donovan said. “But with (Beckham) I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.” Click here for all the quotes and details from the original AP article.

Beckham’s first two seasons in MLS were largely a miserable experience. An unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign. Gullit’s departure, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club’s marquee player. “When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing,” Donovan said. “He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well. “Somewhere along the way – and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go – he just flipped a switch and said, ‘Uh-huh, I’m not doing it anymore’.” Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home. “My sense is that David’s clearly frustrated, that he’s unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it’s a joke,” he said. “I also kind of feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don’t see dedication or commitment to this team, and that’s troubling.”

Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16.

He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer. “Let’s say he does stay here for three more years,” Donovan said. “I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don’t want to have soccer be this way.”

Has the Beckham experiment officially failed? With even the players now coming out and saying so, how can Beckham’s return have any chance of success? Does this make the MLS look bad even after the great showing of the National team in Africa? I know I am personally looking forward to booing Beckham (although we will not even see him in Dallas this year). I totally understand the desire to play for God and Country, but to trash the league that gave him a life line after all others didn’t offer a contract!! Tell me what do you think?

 

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