dani sdao

You can't conquer Hollywood in a couple of days.

The failed actors and screenwriters who work here as waiters know that.
Now Manchester United, the biggest soccer club in the world, should know
it, too.

Nobody in the slick, self-regarding Manchester United organization is
going to admit it, but it's true. Around here, the Manchester United
superstars are nobodies.

United won 3-1 against Mexican Champions Club America yesterday, but
it's unlikely the team won many friends. A game that began in a
cheerful, carnival atmosphere became a hard-fought and sometimes
ill-tempered contest. There were four yellow cards, two for each team.
This level of aggression is unusual in a preseason, friendly game.

A crowd of 57,000 was on hand at the 92,000 seat L.A. Coliseum and the
Mexican fans were loud and partisan. This was the only game in the
four-city U.S. tour that wasn't sold out.

Worse for Manchester United, in the centre of showbiz affluence and
marketing pizzazz, was that the scant attention being paid to soccer is
going to David Beckham, the superstar the club recently sold to Real
Madrid.

Home base for the United caravan here was the Century Plaza Hotel, a
showbiz hangout, near Beverly Hills and deepest Hollywood. It's where
movers and shakers in the movie and TV world relax and invariably read
the entertainment trade paper Variety.

On the day United arrived, Variety carried a feature story that was all
about Beckham. Well, it was about Simon Fuller, who created the American
Idol franchise and successfully exports it. Fuller's been retained by
Beckham and his wife Victoria to make them into a global brand.

Back in England, and in much of the world outside North America, United
manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his team are as famous as any showbiz
idol.

Here, Sir Alex and the boys seemed diminished by the L.A. setting. On
Saturday, at a news conference and training session, it was soccer
hubris comes to Hollywood.

Sir Alex swept into the L.A. Coliseum in a limo, but his press venue was
a little tent at a side entrance. Media attended, but apart from the
travelling British reporters who follow United's every move, it was
local small fry who came.

Casual in shorts and T-shirt, Sir Alex was red-faced from the sun, not
his usual boiling anger at the pesky British press. The media he faced
weren't pesky at all.

There were several TV cameras. But, that was the local Latino, Spanish-
language channels. The exception was the L.A. Channel 7 Eyewitness News
crew. Their reporter asked a polite question about Ferguson's opinion of
American soccer, and then left. The remaining reporters were youngsters
from the Spainish-language weeklies. There were two young women from a
women's soccer Web site. Major L.A. media it wasn't.

Ever shrewd, Ferguson had Diego Forlan beside him. The young Uruguayan
striker was signed from an Argentine club last year and, after a very
shaky start, he's had some impact for United. Slim, blond and handsome,
Forlan is a god to the Spanish-language press. An interpreter was
provided and Forlan said nice things about Mexican soccer.

Ferguson's only real news was about another player from Latin America.
He said that the Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron was staying with United
after considering an offer from another club.

The ensuing training session was open to premium ticket holders. About
400 fanatics were in the stands. Many had English accents, so again
United entertained the converted.

In the concession stands, the selling of Manchester United was under
way, but stalling. One stand was for a Manchester United MasterCard.

There wasn't a single taker. I asked the two attendants if business was
as slow as it looked. They said some people had asked but nobody had
signed up yet. They asked if I had a U.S. address and was I interested?
When I declined, they went back to taking photos of each other in their
complimentary Manchester United shirts.

On the field, the United stars went leisurely through their paces. They
ran and stretched to Top 40 tunes blaring over the PA system. Up in the
stands were two armed and bored LAPD officers who were there to provide
security that wasn't needed.

They'd obviously realized this and were having lunch. I listened in to
their conversation before risking a question. "This is, like, the
all-star team of England, right? one asked the other. The other said,
"No, these guys are the champions in England. They're stars over there,
I guess."

Action on the field became concerted. Sir Alex had strikers Ruud Van
Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer play against two midfielders and
four defenders. One of the officers took this in with interest. "Two on
six. How's that make sense?" he asked out loud.

Then Van Nistelrooy ducked around defenders before lobbing the ball to
Sokskaar, who lobbed it back for Van Niestelrooy to casually stroke into
the net. It was only a training exercise but it was gloriously performed
with languid skill.

I risked a question of the cops. "Are you impressed by these guys?" I
asked. One absorbed the question, shrugged, and said, "I don't know
nothing about it." Like most people here, as it happens.

from The Globe and Mail

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texas longhorns

Ah ah nice one! Perhaps you forgot about AC Milan and Juventus before Man
U....
The Nevilles Brothers world famous, ROTFL!

shawn cady

What? A hard-fought game? How DARE they! We want the players to stroll
through, and barely expend any effort! I'd ask for my money back.

Nice. "I's ig'nant."

(By-the-by: isn't "languid" a glorious word? One of those rare words that
perfectly captures the mood it describes.)

-- Shawn

pervis42

Hollywood. It figures.

william a. t. clark

Pathetic, isn't it. Typical "we don't understand it, we don't play it,
so let's ridicule it" mentality. I don't think that MU will lose too
much sleep over Hollywood's ennui. After all, this is the same location
that couldn't even make an NFL franchise pay.

William Clark

colin morris

Sounds like someone's got a big chip on their shoulder.