(Newswire.net — February 11, 2020) — The new MLS season is only a few weeks away from beginning but already the league table looks slightly different to what it did last year. That’s because instead of 12 teams lining up for the 2020 showpiece, there will now be 13 – with David Beckham’s Inter Miami all set up and ready to begin competing professionally.
It appears to have been quite a seamless journey for Beckham so far and it looks like everything he touches still does turn to gold, but how seriously should we take this new undertaking of his?
The reactions were varied when Beckham first announced that his team will be called Inter Miami back in September 2018. It’s probably fair to say that most of his countrymen back home reacted in the same way you would when nails are dragged down a chalkboard, repeatedly, for a full week. At first, you can’t help but think that the whole thing looks a bit gimmicky as it sounds like the name you would give to a social five-a-side team. It’s up there with Bolton Squanderers, Pork Vale, Real Sociopath, and Ivory Toast as far as puns and football team names go.
But this is actually a multi-million dollar project and not played by a couple of dentists and a locksmith on a Thursday night. If you were to forget the name ever so briefly and just focus on the ground that Beckham has been able to move – both literally and figuratively – to get this idea up and going, you can’t help but stand astonished at how easily the former England international has been able to do it.
Beckham showed fans what the club’s stadium Miami Freedom Park will look like as he posed for a selfie on his Instagram page and, all things considered, it is a very acceptable place to begin this journey. The terraces look basic enough and its new build style reminds you that this is a project right in its infancy. But then again, there is also a certain charm to it.
Looking good, @InterMiamiCF. 😍
(📷: David Beckham) pic.twitter.com/LzAnBxiwCE
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 4, 2020
Maybe that’s to do with the fact that there is now a football team based in the tropical paradise of Miami. It will be intriguing to see how the locals take to this idea and whether they get on board straight away. That will probably come down to whether Beckham treats it like a business venture or an act of love that he intends to nurture for many years to come. You can’t just turn people’s infatuation and love for a soccer club on. It takes time.
Indeed, love for a football team is usually built on history and tradition, with the baton being passed down to the next generation. Yet, with Inter Miami, its inception is one of the more offputting things about it given that it feels quite glitzy and insincere. Every club has to start somewhere in Inter Miami’s defense, but you can’t imagine there will be an individual on the planet with any sort of deep yearning to see them win, apart from David Beckham maybe.
#YourFútbolisHere pic.twitter.com/TTSkPlw52U
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) February 2, 2020
One way that Beckham could go about proving that this isn’t an artificial club without any substance is by bringing in some household names from England. A good place to start maybe with Wayne Rooney, who has already had a stint in the MLS with DC United after signing in June 2018.
Rooney went back to England after 18 months and joined Derby with an aim to try and play in the Premier League again – but it hasn’t gone according to plan as the Rams have endured a miserable season. In fact, the latest football betting odds have Derby at 125/1 to be promoted which indicates that Rooney may look to make a return to the US after this season ends. If Beckham does go down this route of bringing in a few Premier League stars from yesteryear then maybe, just maybe, people will begin to take Inter Miami a bit more seriously.
If Beckham does go down this route of bringing in a few Premier League stars from yesteryear then maybe, just maybe, people will begin to take Inter Miami a bit more seriously.
There is a lot to be said, however, for David Beckham’s hunger to stay in soccer by breaking new ground in the MLS. This is a man that could have hung up his boots and lived out his life whichever way he wanted after his playing days, with enough money in the bank to retire for the next 500 years. Credit must go to Beckham for sticking with his true north and getting back into the game that he, quite clearly, still loves.