Pele believes US fans were misled about what David Beckham could bring to Major League Soccer.
Amid great fanfare, the former England captain was presented by the Los Angeles Galaxy in July, but his greatest impact has been on ticket sales and merchandise.
Pele believes Beckham's introduction was "very, very bad" as it raised expectations about what the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder could produce on the pitch.
PHOTO: AP
"They announced him as a scorer of goals," Pele said. "He isn't a goal scorer. That was a mistake."
After playing an exhibition match in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday night, Beckham said "everybody in the world knows I'm not a goal scorer."
"The Galaxy wouldn't have come out and said that," Beckham said. "Like I said, everyone has got their own opinions. Pele is a great player and a great ambassador for the game."
The 32-year-old Beckham is more adept at delivering crosses. In five league games, Beckham scored one goal -- from a trademark free kick -- before being ruled out with a knee injury for seven weeks.
"Beckham wants to be the star and that's his big problem," Pele said, referring to Beckham's injuries. "It is not easy to play in American soccer, because it is very tough. The mentality is English mentality."
Pele, a three-time World Cup-winning Brazil striker, generated huge publicity for the North America Soccer League when he made his debut for the New York Cosmos in 1975.
"The first year was very tough for me because Cosmos was a young team," Pele said. "But later on we had Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and Carlos Alberto. We set up a good team."
More than 75,000 New York fans saw Pele's final match two years later, when he played the first half with the Cosmos and the second half with his former Brazilian team, Santos.
Pele believes MLS players' salaries need to be raised to the level of American football or baseball players. He also wants the lifting of restrictions on player movements, which are designed to stop wealthy teams from amassing the best players.
"This was one of the mistakes. They have to give freedom to the owners of the teams to buy the players and [chose] which players they want to put [out]," Pele said.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS