What some of you may know, but most of you probably don’t, is that I’m quickly turning into a very big soccer fan. So of course I watched the friendly between the LA Galaxy and Chelsea FC. The game was not as close as the 1-0 score would indicate, given that Chelsea got a very bad offside call and they still took somewhere upwards of twenty shots on goal, but the Galaxy looked particularly tough, especially on defense.

As a general observation, American teams tend to have a much scrappier style of play than their European counterparts, but are decades behind in terms of technical ability. That was definitely illustrated during this game, where a viciously physical Galaxy defense managed to hold Chelsea (unarguably one of the best soccer clubs in the world) to one goal, but at the same time were unable to get many shots off themselves. The closest thing to a real shot was Landon Donovan’s botched open header that should have been the equalizer. Tactically, the Galaxy’s offense seemed unprepared for a skilled defense, attempting to force their way into the box rather than use a variety of methods to keep the defense off guard. They did the equivalent of a basketball team running the pick and roll ad nauseam. Of course, so did Chelsea, but they were going to win such a competition.

Of course, the most important part of the night was David Beckham’s debut in the United States. I’ve never seen that much excitement about twelve minutes of play, but the importance of this game is that someone in Europe has taken an active interest in really exporting soccer to the US. Although Beckham may be a bit past his prime in the European leagues, he is still world class talent by American standards, and will hopefully elevate the level of play in MLS as a consequence of his presence. Perhaps it won’t be that long before US soccer isn’t some grand joke on the world stage, and that we are actually capable of fielding teams that are genuinely competitive with the best countries in the world.

But then, the broadcasters don’t really have time to show advertisements during a match, so maybe MLS will continue to sit behind the other major American sports leagues.