World Cup 2010 South Africa

Goalkeeper Hope Solo threw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game and competed on “Dancing With the Stars.” And six other members of the U.S. women’s soccer team — a group that captured the nation’s imagination and was the runner-up in the Women’s World Cup this summer in Germany — were invited to the White House to play soccer with first lady Michelle Obama.

Women’s soccer hasn’t been this hot in the U.S. since Brandi Chastain put her jersey back on.

Yet in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of American sports, it’s what the national team does for an encore in the Olympic Games next summer in London that will determine how long the public’s love affair with it will last. And it could go a long way toward determining the sport’s long-term growth prospects as well.

“It’s really easy to kind of rest on your laurels when you’ve had an experience like the World Cup. But we didn’t win,” said forward Abby Wambach, one of three finalists for the FIFA women’s player-of-the-year award and the first soccer player — male or female — to be voted the Associated Press’ athlete of the year. “So it makes people want to work that much harder.

“If we can bring home the gold, we’re going to give this sport another platform to continue to grow.”

Before we look ahead to next summer, let’s take one more look back at the last one, when, during an eight-day period in mid-July, the U.S. women played two of the most exciting matches in international soccer history.

First, the short-handed Americans beat Brazil on penalty kicks in the World Cup quarterfinals, narrowly avoiding elimination when Wambach’s header — one of four goals she scored in the tournament — tied the match with seconds left in overtime.

Then, in a final that was just as long and nearly as stirring, the U.S. and Japan traded goals in overtime before Japan triumphed on penalty kicks.

The results of both games led newscasts and stopped baseball games. Fans packed bars to watch the final, which drew the largest TV audience in U.S. history for a women’s match played outside the U.S.

“We came back and Times Square was just full of fans for us,” midfielder Heather O’Reilly said. “We did a circuit of talk shows and it was just really cool to see those clips of the bars just exploding. We could really, truly see the impact that we made.

“It didn’t really matter if it was women’s soccer, men’s soccer. The sport was enhanced and that was really cool. [But] the challenge is to stay in that sports fan’s conscious. We can’t just be that Brazil game and then forget about us.”

That brings us back to next summer — and the run-up begins next week when the U.S. team gathers at the Home Depot Center for its final training camp ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament at Vancouver, Canada, in late January. The U.S. must finish in the top two in its group, which includes the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Guatemala, to advance to the semifinals, where it must win again to reach the final and clinch a berth in the London Games.

None of that should be a problem. Sundhage said if you liked the World Cup, you’ll love the year ahead even more.

“The journey has been absolutely wonderful. Exciting. And I think we improved our game tremendously. It will be even better going forward,” said the coach, who has lost five of 82 matches since taking over the U.S. program in 2007.

How long the U.S., ranked No. 1 in the world by FIFA, can continue improving is uncertain. The Americans have long been the dominant power in women’s soccer, winning two of the first three World Cups and three Olympic gold medals in four tournaments, finishing second the other time.

On the plus side, 15 of the 31 players Sundhage invited to training camp are younger than 26, which would appear to bode well for the future.

On the negative side is the plight of the Women’s Professional Soccer league, which was expected to play an important role in keeping the talent pipeline flowing, yet continues to struggle for funding and credibility three seasons after its founding. Last month, it needed a waiver from U.S. Soccer’s Board of Governors to remain a Division I league after the Florida-based magicJack franchise was disbanded because of ownership problems. That left WPS with five teams, three fewer than required for Division I status.

“There’s a place for women’s professional soccer here in America,” said Solo, who played alongside Wambach with the magicJack team. “[But] the equation has to work out. You have to have the right investors … the right people to run a league.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have that.”

O’Reilly is more hopeful, thinking that another successful summer for the U.S. women’s team will help make WPS not just necessary, but also relevant.

“It’s very crucial, very important for the growth of the game,” she said of a women’s professional league. “It’s a great product, as you saw this summer. People do love this game and they love the way that the women can play.

“It’s just about getting people to buy tickets.”

Every December, European leagues follow a familiar ritual: They play their final set of games on the weekend before Christmas and then stick the Gone Fishin’ sign on the door.
Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s Liga go on hiatus for nearly three weeks until Jan. 7. France’s Championnat returns a week later. Germany’s Bundesliga takes off for a full month. And Russia’s Premier League trumps them all. It stopped on Nov. 27 and won’t be heard from again until early March—a full three months off. As Napoleon might say, you don’t mess with winter in that part of the world.

The one European exception is the British leagues: England and Scotland. When everyone else takes a breather, they don’t just keep playing. They actually play more.

In addition to the regular weekend matches, they also work on Dec. 26—Boxing Day, a national holiday—and either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, depending on the calendar. This can mean—and has meant—four games in nine days, which is pretty brutal for teams that normally play on the weekends and once during the week, at most.

It’s not just a case of Britons doing things to be different from the rest of Europe, like driving on the left side of the road. This is a full-fledged tradition that makes economic sense. Unlike civilians, soccer players are off during the summer. Why should they also enjoy a chunk of vacation during the holidays? With kids off school and adults off work, there’s a ready-made audience waiting to be entertained. Why lose those potentially lucrative home dates?

Then there’s the popular socio-economic theory that states that gorging yourself on soccer after you’ve feasted on turkey is part of a master plan for social control.

The reason most games in England and Scotland kick off at 3 p.m. Saturday dates to something called the Factory Act, which was passed by the British Parliament in 1850. It codified the 60-hour work week and stipulated that all factories, mines and mills had to shut down by 2 p.m. Saturday. Faced with the prospect of millions of workers idling on the streets—perhaps boozing, fighting or, worse, plotting to overturn the state—soccer provided a welcome diversion. The 3 p.m. kickoff gave Britons just enough time to wash up and get down to the stadium, ensuring they’d be off the streets until nightfall. Sundays, of course, were reserved for church, and the liquor stores, like all shops, were generally closed by law until 1994.

Soccer around Christmas was seen as part of this same sport-as-the-opiate-of-the-people theory. Instead of munching on leftovers and drinking all day on Dec. 26, men (and it was mostly men) would be traveling to watch soccer, perhaps with their kids in tow. The same logic applied to Dec. 31 and Jan. 1: A soccer match either slowed down New Year’s drinking or cured a hangover.

While it’s a compelling notion, the real reason is probably much simpler. It’s the same reason you watched the NFL on Christmas Eve and the NBA on Christmas Day: money. The millions sitting at home in a food coma provide a perfect captive audience for television. For those who want to get out of the house, away from the mother-in-law, a soccer match is a natural fit. The Premier League understands this as well as anyone, which is why it has scheduled games in eight of the 10 days between Dec. 26 and Jan. 4.

But there’s another benefit in this globalized age of soccer. The Premier League is already the most popular in the world, but at this time of year, it has the stage all to itself, which further drives business. Fans in other nations have nowhere else to get their fix. It’s the Premier League’s time to shine.

Is there a downside to this soccer extravaganza? Successive England coaches, most notably Sven Goran Eriksson, who was in charge from 2000 to 2006, have complained that it hurts the national team. By the time the summer tournaments roll around, like the World Cup or European Championship, English players are exhausted and underperform. Eriksson pointed out that every country that has won a major tournament since 1966, the last time England won anything of note, has had the benefit of a winter break—and Germany, the best European performers, traditionally has the longest hiatus among major nations.

Clearly the idea has its merits. It doesn’t take a conditioning guru to figure out that some downtime can only do an athlete good. Indeed, of the 109 players who appeared in the final of the World Cup or the Euros since 2004, just 15 did so after a long and grinding Premier League season. That would suggest the lack of a winter break doesn’t just explain England’s underachievement but also affects foreign players plying their trade in the Premier League.

And yet there’s a flipside: The lack of a winter break doesn’t seem to harm English clubs in European competitions like the Champions League or Europa League, which continue well into May. In fact, English clubs have been among the most successful in those tournaments. Unless you believe a player is fine in May but succumbs to fatigue a month later, it’s hard to blame the winter break.

While it may make economic sense and probably would please many supporters, don’t expect Europe’s other major leagues to emulate England. The idea of a winter break is entrenched not just for the players but also for referees, media, league officials and fans. Nobody is likely to budge any time soon.

And this, once again, leaves the English in splendid isolation, hogging the world’s soccer limelight. Which is the way they like it.

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all ‘cross the field, every creature was stirring and no parking would yield.

In what has become a Dec. 26 tradition, San Gorgonio’s boys and girls soccer tournaments kicked off Monday morning at the massive San Bernardino Soccer Complex across the street from San Gorgonio.

On Day 1 of the three-day event, 15 fields were utilized and 86 games were scheduled for the four tournaments: boys and girls varsity and junior varsity.

It is the 15th year for the girls tournaments, the ninth year for the boys varsity and the first year boys JV teams have been included.

“We asked the boys coaches last year how many wanted to bring JV teams and a bunch of them did,” San Gorgonio athletic director Matt Maeda said.

Etiwanda girls varsity coach Jason Montgomery has brought his team to the tournament the last few years after formerly going to tournaments in Orange County.

“This is a good tournament with good competition for us,” Montgomery said. “And it’s very well-organized.”

Montgomery was taking a break between his team’s two games on Monday. He was able to spend some time with his nine-months-pregnant wife Tommy, who is scheduled for a C-section on Wednesday morning to deliver the couple’s second child.

Tommy Montgomery, who was Tommy Hart when she played at Alta Loma, is the co-coach at Hesperia. She still was there on Monday, coaching her team in its

first day of the tournament as well.

“She wants to coach the first two days, then we go in at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday (for the C-section),” Jason Montgomery said.

The tournament offers a rare chance for Montgomery to watch his wife’s team in action.

“I’ll probably watch some of it,” he said. “I watch a lot of it already. (But) this is a great tournament if you love soccer.”

Los Osos boys coach Gerard Solorzano had taken his team to other tournaments before, but likes coming to the tournament to see some different teams.

“We get to see some teams from the High Desert, the Low Desert, teams we don’t get to see the rest of the season,” he said.

Maeda, formerly San Gorgonio’s girls soccer coach, started the event as a girls tournament 15 years ago. As big as it’s gotten, it isn’t as big a money-maker for the San Gorgonio soccer programs as you might think.

He said 60 to 70 percent of teams’ entry fees pay officials and about 10 percent pays for use of the complex, which is city-owned. Another five to 10 percent goes for awards.

Since the complex is city-owned, San Gorgonio gets none of the concessions: food or parking. So that leaves a net profit of about $7,000-8,000 between the two tournaments.

“It’s not as much as you think, but every bit helps,” Maeda said.

Montgomery and Solorzano were two coaches who appreciate the tournament but wouldn’t be against a couple of changes.

First, they’d like to move the first day to Dec. 27, to give players an extra day to physically – and mentally – prepare. They also aren’t big fans of the 30-minute halves (as opposed to regular 40-minute halves) that are used for the first two days, or four games of the varsity tournaments.

Maeda, who spent part of Monday watching his son Kevin play for the Citrus Valley JV, said beginning on Dec. 26 allows for two rain days and they could still finish on Friday.

For about 10 of the 15 years, there have been no problems with weather and none are expected this year.

With the final seconds ticking down and the Americans on the verge of their earliest exit ever from the Women’s World Cup, Abby Wambach kept waving her index finger at her teammates.

One chance, she screamed, all they needed was one chance.

When it came in the form of a left-footed cross from Megan Rapinoe, Wambach pounced. With one vicious whip of her head, she changed the course of this year’s World Cup and sparked a nationwide frenzy rarely seen for women’s sports.

Wambach’s clutch performance at this summer’s World Cup made her the clear choice for the 2011 Female Athlete of the Year, selected by members of The Associated Press. The U.S. forward received 65 of the 214 votes cast, while teammate Hope Solo (38) was a distant second and UConn basketball star Maya Moore (35) was third.

Wambach is the first individual soccer player — man or woman — to win one of the AP’s annual sports awards, which began in 1931. The U.S. women’s team won in 1999, when their World Cup triumph at the Rose Bowl transfixed the nation.

“We, as a team, did something that no team since Mia Hamm was able to do,” Wambach told the AP. “Even the team that won the (Olympic) gold medal in 2008 wasn’t able to inspire and get people excited about women’s soccer. It goes to show you the impact drama can bring.”

Wambach’s four goals in Germany give her 13 in three World Cup appearances. That’s the most by an American, topping Michelle Akers by one, and puts her third on the all-time World Cup scoring list behind Brazil’s Marta and Germany’s Birgit Prinz. The 31-year-old ranks third on the U.S. career scoring list with 125 goals, trailing only Mia Hamm (158) and Kristine Lilly (130).

“When she’s on top of her game,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said, “she’s one of the best in the world.”

Wambach was certainly at her best at the World Cup, leading the Americans to the final, where they lost to Japan on penalty kicks.

The U.S. has long been the dominant team in women’s soccer, winning two of the first three World Cups and all but one of the Olympic gold medals since the sport was added to the program in 1996. The Americans were so famous they could go by one name – Mia, Brandi, Foudy – and they got rock star treatment during the 1999 World Cup, playing to sold-out crowds in massive stadiums from coast to coast.

Americans grew spoiled by the group’s success, however, and were barely able to muster a yawn when the U.S. won the Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008. Many people in the States may not have even realized there was a World Cup going on this summer.

Then came that quarterfinal against Brazil.

Down a player for almost an hour, the Americans were less than 90 seconds from losing in overtime after squandering an early lead. But in the 122nd minute, Rapinoe lofted a cross from 30 yards and Wambach rose above the Brazilian defenders. One of the world’s best players in the air, she scored on a thunderous header, setting off pandemonium in the stadium that soon spread clear across the Atlantic Ocean.

“It just seemed surreal. Even in the moment, I was feeling like it was a dream because we were so against the ropes and everything was pointed to us going down that day,” Wambach said. “But there was something inside of us that wasn’t going to allow that to happen. We weren’t quite ready to give up.”

There are few things Americans like more than winners, especially those who wear “U-S-A” on their chests. That the U.S. women were a fierce, gritty bunch who refused to be beaten only made them more appealing, particularly in a summer when all the other news – the economy, home sales, the NFL lockout – was bleak.

By the time the U.S. beat Brazil on penalty kicks – Wambach and her teammates made all of theirs – folks who couldn’t tell a bicycle kick from a Schwinn were piling on the bandwagon. Celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Lil Wayne and Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers were quick to show the Americans some love, and the women even got face time on the Jumbotron at Yankee Stadium.

“People kind of forgot about their woes and were able to celebrate,” Wambach said.

She did her part to keep it going, heading in a corner kick for the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute of the semifinal against France. Wambach also scored in the final, giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the 104th minute of overtime. But Homare Sawa tied the game in the 117th, and the Americans lost 3-1 on penalty kicks.

Despite the loss, the Americans were welcomed home like champions. They had inspired the country when it needed it, and that meant as much as any trophy or title.

Almost six months later, the accolades are still coming. Wambach was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the victory over Brazil was named the top sports accomplishment of the year in a Marist poll. The Women’s World Cup ranked 10th in the voting for AP sports story of the year.

“I’m not a person who cares much about (individual) awards, but I really appreciate you guys recognizing this team,” Wambach said. “It helps keep this sport alive, and it’s really important.”

Wambach takes her role as ambassador for the game seriously, recognizing that time in the spotlight is still rare for women’s soccer and it must be taken advantage of. She is as accommodating a star athlete as there is, happy to sign autographs, pose for pictures or do interviews. This is how the game is grown, and that, not the goals or the scoring records, is what she hopes her legacy will be.

“Hopefully when I’m long gone, this team is so good that people don’t even talk about (me),” she said. “Truthfully.”

Not that Wambach is going anywhere.

The Americans are the defending Olympic champions, and Wambach and her teammates are currently training for next month’s regional qualifying tournament. She hopes to be healthy enough to play at the 2015 World Cup in Canada, and fill that last gap in a resume as dazzling as anyone who’s ever worn the U.S. uniform.

“I have to say, of all people, I think she is one of the best role models: interacting with fans, saying good things about the game, saying good things about this country, saying good things about her teammates,” Sundhage said. “I’m very proud of the fact I’ve had the chance to coach her for so many years. It will be a highlight of my career.”

Lady Tigers – The three time defending District 13-4A champion Lady Tigers varsity soccer team has a little over half of last year’s team back for this season.

“Ball park figure, I have about sixty percent of last year’s team back,” Head Coach Jeromy McMurray said on Wednesday. “That experience will help some, I lost three four year starters from last year so we are kind of rebuilding a bit this season.”

“I expect the teams in our district this season will be just as good or better than what they have been in the past,” McMurray said. “I know that Texas High did not graduate too many people, Pleasant Grove is going to have a junior varsity team this season for the first time so they are stepping up their program as well. But I have a very smart group of kids that work hard and as long as that continues, then we should keep improving.”

Assisting McMurray this season are coaches Gloria Guzman and JR McGee.

The Lady Tigers varsity and junior varsity soccer teams kick off their season by visiting Lindale at 5:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 3. Mount Pleasant hosts a girls tournament where 28 teams (16 varsity and 12 junior varsity) are scheduled to compete.
Tigers

Since the 2006 season, Mount Pleasant High School’s varsity boys soccer team has locked up the District 13-4A title every year. Head Coach Jason Mayfield, who has been at the helm since 2005, said he a fresh young group ready to add another district title to the school’s mantelpiece.

“About half of last year’s team back this season after losing six seniors from last year’s team,” Head Coach Jason Mayfield said on Wednesday. “The experience we have coming back id pretty valuable as we have been preparing for the upcoming season.”

The Tigers will go through a rigorous preseason schedule as a way of warming up of preparing for their run through both district and the postseason.

“Our district is not very tough but our pre-district schedule is,” Mayfield said. “We schedule tough games during pre-district to prepare to go through district and make the playoffs.”

Mount Pleasant, which has reached the regional tournament the past years, are not slacking off during practice.

“We work hard, plain and simple,” Mayfield said. “If you consistently have good practices then you are more likely to perform with more consistency during your matches. That is our basic focus right now, to have consistency in everything we do in practice.”

Mayfield and his staff routinely dissect numerous phases of the game.

“We break down player development into different categories,” Mayfield said. “Kinesthetic, athleticism, technical abilities (different ways of touching the ball), tactical (under standing the way we are going to play), and field awareness and mentality.”

It is that same roll-up-your-sleeve mentality which has repeatedly kept the 31-3A trophy in Mount Pleasant.

“We develop our players all of the way through, junior high to twelfth grade,” Mayfield said. “That way when one group leaves, the next one is readyour younger players are ready to step up because they have been taught the same things and have developed the same way. Plus our players are very talented which also helps.”

Assisting Mayfield this season are Ramon Hernandez, Francisco Medina, Jesus Robles and David Zaldivar

The Tigers commence their season by visiting Longview on Saturday, January 7.

Ben Speas lofted a 25-yard shot over goalkeeper Klay Davis midway through the second half to give North Carolina a 1-0 victory over Charlotte in the NCAA championship.

The Tar Heels (21-2-3) earned their first men’s soccer title in 10 years. They lost in the semifinals each of the previous two seasons and fell in final in 2008.

Speas, who had an assist in North Carolina’s semifinal victory over UCLA, worked the ball toward the middle of the field just outside the Charlotte box and hit a left-footer that barely cleared the outstretched arm of Davis.
“I went to my right and was going to take a shot, but I got cut off so I went back to my left and hit it with my left foot,” Speas said. “It dipped over the keeper and luckily went in.”

The unseeded 49ers (17-5-3) outshot North Carolina 14-3 in the second half, including a flurry of four shots in 41 seconds with less than five minutes left in regulation.

“The simple fact is they scored a fantastic goal and we did everything but,” Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn said. “It was incredible what we were doing the last five minutes. There were so many great attempts. We gave them everything that we had. It just wasn’t quite meant to be.”

UNC goalkeeper Scott Goodwin made two saves during the late flurry, one shot hit the crossbar and another went just wide of the net.

“It was hectic, to say the least,” Goodwin said. “Charlotte did an amazing job toward the end of the game putting us under pressure.”

The 49ers had three other shots in the final minutes that were deflected before they reached the goal, including a key save by Jordan Gafa on a shot that Goodwin couldn’t reach.

“We had them on the ropes the entire last 10 minutes,” Charlotte forward T.J. Beaulieu said. “We had so many shots. One of those balls could have easily been deflected in. We were all over them, but just a bit unlucky.”
It appeared that the 49ers might receive a penalty kick early in the second half when Donnie Smith went to the ground while trying to drive toward the goal against Kirk Urso, but no foul was called.

“In my own humble opinion that was a penalty,” Gunn said. “Those decisions even out through the season. But there’s a good chance when we watch it on the DVD that a cup of tea might go flying across the room.”

When Urso was asked about the play he initially said: “You mean the one that maybe could have been a PK?”

“I think the ref made the right decision,” Urso said later. “I was just running alongside of (Smith) and I thought I was in good position. I don’t think I got him at all.”

The victory helped erase years of frustration for Urso and the other UNC seniors.

“My whole college career has been awesome, but there was something extra about this team,” Urso said. “To cap it off with this is something I’m going to remember the rest of my life.”

West Virginia University men’s soccer players Eric Schoenle, Raymon Gaddis and Andy Bevin were named to National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s (NSCAA) all-Northeast region teams today.
Schoenle earned first team honors, while Gaddis and Bevin were on the second team. Schoenle and Gaddis are receiving the honor for the second time as they were third and first team members, respectively, in 2009.

A Yardley, PA., native, Schoenle started all 20 games in 2011 and was third on the team with nine points, recording three goals and three assists. Defensively, Schoenle helped to anchor a backline that recorded eight shutouts and allowed an average of four shots per game. Schoenle is a two-time all-BIG EAST selection.

Gaddis, an Indianapolis, Ind., native, played in 17 games last year, missing some action late in the season due to injury. Gaddis recorded one assist and took three shots. As one of the top right backs in the nation, Gaddis helped to allow just 26 goals by opposition this season. Gaddis is a two-time all-BIG EAST selection and was on the Hermann Trophy watch list in 2010 and 2011.

A Napier, New Zealand, native, Bevin finished his rookie campaign with a team-leading seven goals, along with two assists for 16 points. Bevin started all 20 matches at the forward position. Bevin was previously named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year, while earning third team all-BIG EAST honors as well.

West Virginia finished the 2011 season with an 11-8-1 record, 6-3-0 in BIG EAST play. The Mountaineers advanced to the second round NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season.

Last week, the USF men’s soccer program reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time.

On Sunday, they were denied a spot in the Final Four for the fourth time.

The Bulls, the No. 7 seed, lost to host and No. 2 seed Creighton 1-0 in overtime in the quarterfinals.

Ethan Finley scored in the 96th minute after USF (13-4-4) had two goals canceled by offside calls.

The game was delayed a day because heavy snow in Omaha, Neb., made the field unplayable.

USF coach George Kiefer told gousfbulls.com that the weather did not have a negative affect on his team. “Right before kickoff you can be drained on that, but I felt the leadership of the group was very good and the approach was good,” he said.

Chris Blais had three saves for the Bulls, one of three Big East teams to lose in the Elite Eight.

Creighton (21-2), which outshot USF 20-6, faces Charlotte in the College Cup semifinals, Friday in Hoover, Ala. Top seed North Carolina and UCLA meet in the other semifinal.

Stanford takes title

KENNESAW, Ga. — Teresa Noyola scored from point-blank range and top-ranked Stanford beat No. 3 Duke 1-0 for its first women’s title.

Seniors Noyola, Camille Levin, Kristy Zurmuhlen and Lindsay Taylor finished their Stanford careers 95-4-4. Their last three losses came in the College Cup, including the previous two finals.

Noyola scored in the 53rd minute after Levin won a ball about 8 yards right of the goal. She crossed it to the far post, where Noyola headed it into the net.

“It’s already incredible that we’re here after those heartbreaks,” Noyola said.

Sócrates, the soccer great and medical doctor who transcended the sport through his involvement in Brazil’s pro-democracy movement and his outspoken defense of his own bohemian excesses, died on Sunday in São Paulo, Brazil. He was 57.
The cause was septic shock from an intestinal infection, according to a statement from Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, where he was admitted on Saturday.

Sócrates, the captain of Brazil’s team in the 1982 World Cup, had been hospitalized three times in the last four months. In recent interviews, he had described liver problems related to decades of heavy drinking, for which he was sometimes pilloried.

“This country drinks more cachaça than any other in the world, and it seems like I myself drink it all,” he once told an interviewer, referring to the popular Brazilian spirit made from fermented sugar cane. “They don’t want me to drink, smoke or think?”

“Well,” he said, “I drink, smoke and think.”

His exuberant style reflected an expansive and multifaceted career. In addition to playing soccer, he practiced medicine and dabbled in coaching and painting. He also wrote newspaper columns, delving into subjects as varied as politics and economics, and made forays into writing fiction and acting on the stage.

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira was born on Feb. 19, 1954, in the Amazonian city of Belém do Pará, Brazil. His upbringing was more privileged than that of many Brazilian professional soccer players, who often rise from abject poverty.

Emerging in the 1970s as a promising young player in Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of São Paulo State, he studied medicine while playing for provincial teams before attaining his medical degree at 24. After that, he moved to Corinthians, the famous São Paulo club with a big following among Brazil’s poor.

Known to his fans as Doctor and Big Skinny, a reference to his spindly 6-foot-4-inch frame, Sócrates arrived at Corinthians at a time of intense political activity in São Paulo, a period when anger and resistance were coalescing against the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil.

Sócrates, in addition to organizing a movement advocating greater rights for Corinthians players, spoke at street protests in the 1980s calling for an end to authoritarian rule. That movement helped usher in a transition to democracy.

Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, praised Sócrates in a statement on Sunday.

“Dr. Sócrates was a star on the field and a great friend,” said Mr. da Silva, a Corinthians fan who is being treated for throat cancer at the hospital where Sócrates died. “He was an example of citizenship, intelligence and political consciousness.”

On the field, Sócrates was known as a wily strategist who could elegantly employ his signature move, a back-heel pass. At a time when many players maintained a clean-cut appearance, Sócrates had a beard and sometimes appeared with his long hair held back in a headband, like the tennis star Bjorn Borg.

Fans of Sócrates mention his name in the same breath as Brazilian soccer greats like Pelé, Ronaldo and Romário. But unlike those players, he was never part of a World Cup championship team.

The team he captained in 1982 was considered among the best to play the game, but it lost to Italy, 3-2, in the second round. In the 1986 World Cup, Sócrates missed a penalty kick in a quarterfinal loss to France.

Revered for his rebellious irreverence and his “heel of gold,” he deplored the way Brazilian soccer had evolved in recent years, criticizing the new playing styles as “bureaucratic” and “conservative.”

“Being sensible isn’t always the best thing,” Sócrates told The Guardian in 2010.

While Sócrates often defended his nonconformist style, he struggled publicly with his demons, too.

In televised comments this year, he described his struggle with alcoholism, leading to a broader debate in Brazil over the country’s drinking habits. As recently as August, he said that he had abstained from drinking “so that my liver can unite the conditions to be balanced.”

Has it really been 74 games since David Beckham signed with Major League Soccer?

And therein lies an explanation why Sunday’s MLS Cup against the Houston Dynamo should be the last game in which Beckham wears a Los Angeles Galaxy uniform.

Seventy-four games is two years in most other leagues around the world, but that number covered five years in MLS. That’s less than 15 games per season.

If the reason were something other than Beckham’s best interests, there would be no problem. Sign him for next year and pay him anything you want. But Beckham’s best interests did not often match the Galaxy’s, and the team always came out second-best.

When Beckham signed with MLS on Jan. 11, 2007, it was the biggest coup in league history. Not only did MLS get an exceptional talent, it also received all the perks that came along with him. News and entertainment shows, which never gave MLS a sniff in its first 11 years, suddenly were reporting on his every move.

And the league loved it.

Financially, the $32.5 million contract was a bargain the minute it was signed. Between skyrocketing jersey sales, television rights to foreign countries and new U.S. television deals, not to mention the awareness and buzz it created, MLS more than made its money back.

But at some point it has to be about soccer, and there were far too many times where it just wasn’t.

We’ll give Beckham a pass in 2007. He arrived in mid-July with ankle and knee problems and never should have played right away. But the Galaxy, pressured by sold-out stadiums, especially on the road, played him too soon and he was limited to five games.

Nobody could argue with 2008, when Beckham played 25 games and collected five goals and 10 assists while making the all-star team for the first time.

But it soon became clear that Beckham was calling the shots, and over the next two years, it was nothing but disaster for the Galaxy.

Beckham insisted on being loaned out to AC Milan following the 2008 season in an effort to play at a high-enough level to convince England coach Fabio Capello he should be on the 2010 World Cup team. He returned to the Galaxy in midseason of 2009 and played just 11 of 30 games.

It was the same the next year, but the strain of playing year-round was too much, and Beckham tore his Achilles tendon with Milan and wound up missing the World Cup. He also missed all but seven games of the Galaxy’s season, although no one ever seemed to mention that or how much the league and the Galaxy capitulated to his every whim.

This season, in the fifth and final year of his contract, Beckham committed himself to the team, which many players often do in their walk year. And not surprisingly, Beckham had an MVP-type season, playing 26 games and recording 15 assists while winning the Comeback Player of the Year award.

He is also 90 minutes away from his first MLS championship, something he desperately wants whether he signs a contract extension or not.

As a soon-to-be free agent, a number of teams throughout the world have contacted Beckham, and at 36 it’s likely this could be his last contract. But there are other factors. His wife is reportedly happy in California and his children are at the age where school, friends and stability are important. And for a family man like Beckham, those issues will play a key part of the decision.

But here is something MLS and the Galaxy should consider, no matter what happens on Sunday. As a free agent, Beckham holds all the cards, and it’s likely he’ll insist on another loan arrangement to be fit to play in the European Championships next summer.

Beckham has also said he wants to play in the London Olympics, and if he gets his way, which he usually does, he could miss as much as three months of the 2012 MLS season.

If the Galaxy wins the MLS Cup Sunday, they should just cut ties with Beckham and start clean, perhaps with Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard taking Beckham’s place, as rumored, next season. But a loss could cause them to be desperate enough to want Beckham back at all costs, even if it is to the detriment of the team.