David Beckham, Jozy Altidore, and no defense whatsoever

August 20th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

I’m all for exciting soccer — and exciting for casual fans means “high-scoring” — so I’m cool with the 5-4 lovefest that went down in New York on Saturday. The raucous crowd was capacity (unlike in Beckham’s first start), the play was free-flowing and attacking, and the defense and goalkeeping were … totally awful. Both keepers allowed goals that should have been saves, both teams struggled to clear the ball … if that’s what it takes for Americans to embrace the game, there is little incentive to improve the quality of the play. That worries me.

But let’s not focus too much on the negative: David Beckham played well, his team scored plenty, and American youngster Jozy Altidore showed why he is so highly regarded. It was a great night for American soccer, even if no one could form any sort of back line whatsoever. Next MLS import: Marco Materazzi?