CARSON, Calif. – Real Salt Lake’s success in in the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday was more than just a boon for one Western Conference club. In reality, it’s a potential windfall for Major League Soccer, said LA Galaxy star David Beckham.
“It’s great for the league,” he said. “It’s great for the game in this country. To see the success of teams, that’s what this game needs in the US. It’s great to see that. Good luck to them.”
RSL advanced to the Champions League final after a 3-2 aggregate-goals victory over Deportivo Saprissa. The MLS team will host the second and decisive leg of the final on April 27 at Rio Tinto Stadium against either Cruz Azul or Monterrey of Mexico.
For Beckham, the chance to see an MLS team hoist the confederation’s club championship is important, and something he hopes to see the Galaxy achieve. LA will participate in the CONCACAF Champions League for the second consecutive year in 2011, and Beckham said their goal will be to have similar success as that of RSL's in the competition.
“We want to be successful in anything that we do, in any competition that we enter,” Beckham said. “We want to be successful in everything and hopefully we can do that.”
Should RSL win the CONCACAF Champions League, they would become the first Major League Soccer club to ever participate in the Club World Cup. If that were to happen, Beckham said the sport’s profile in the United States would continue to climb.
After all, what matters is that RSL succeed for the sake of soccer in the US, not to set themselves apart from other teams within the league, Beckham said.
“It’s not about them setting the bar that high," he said. "It’s about the success of the game and I think that’s something that every club in this league wants to achieve. We want to grow this league and we want to grow this sport in this country. Things like what Salt Lake are achieving, that can only be a good thing.”
