Galaxy or Chivas should be chasing DaMarcus Beasley
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There was an interesting dispatch out of Scotland this morning in which it was reported that U.S. international winger DaMarcus Beasley is unhappy at his lack of playing time with Rangers in Glasgow and might be forced to move on.
If so, opportunity beckons for the Galaxy or for Chivas USA.
Beasley and Landon Donovan have a long history of success playing together, dating back to a fourth-place finish with the U.S. at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in New Zealand in 1999 and including a quarterfinal appearance at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Bruce Arena was the coach who took a chance on the youngsters and featured both in his World Cup side. Now, Arena is coach of the Galaxy and already has Donovan on his roster (unless Bayern Munich succeeds in prying him away).
If AEG can somehow juggle its financial books and find a way to squeeze Beasley under the MLS salary cap, such a reunion would be a vastly popular move among Galaxy fans and would definitely help on the field.
If not, perhaps Chivas USA could bring Beasley aboard as a logical replacement for Francisco ‘Panchito’ Mendoza, who has returned to Guadalajara after four lively and productive seasons in L.A. Beasley is the same sort of player, quick and inventive, and with a better goal-scoring touch. Like Mendoza, he can fill in at left back as well as play left midfield.
Chivas has not dipped into the designated players ranks, but Beasley would be worth a Donovan-type investment. Chivas Coach Preki‘s own success as an attacking player in Europe, in MLS and with the U.S. national team would make him well-suited to further nurture Beasley’s career.
‘If I’m not playing here, I should move on,’ Beasley said, adding that he had no problem with Rangers other than his lack of minutes. He has not played a game since Dec. 6 and staying on the bench will not help his national team prospects.
‘We’ve got World Cup qualifiers coming up and the Confederations Cup in South Africa this summer,’ he said on the Rangers’ website. ‘I want to be involved in all of that, [but] I know for that to happen I need to be playing football, so hopefully over the next couple of weeks things can improve for me.’
The U.S. plays Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11 in its next World Cup qualifier and Coach Bob Bradley will be closely watching to see if Beasley gets playing time before then.
-- Grahame L. Jones