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Stallone backs LA-bound Becks
14/01/2007 17:23 - (SA)
Liverpool - Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone believes David Beckham will be a major success in the United States when he joins the LA Galaxy next year.
Stallone, best known for playing Rocky Balboa in the film series about the fictional boxer, was speaking at Goodison Park ahead of Everton's Premiership match against Reading here Sunday.
He received a warm welcome at the ground where he was a guest of his friend Robert Earl, who is now one of Everton's major backers, his visit coinciding with a promotional trip to the United Kingdom to promote the latest Rocky film.
Asked about how Real Madrid and former Manchester United midfielder Beckham would fare in Los Angeles, Stallone was upbeat. "I think it will be fantastic when David Beckham goes to the States.
"History may not repeat itself. Maybe in the 70s with Pele and Franz Beckenbauer it was too soon for the sport to take off," added Stallone, in a reference to the ill-fated North American Soccer League (NASL) where star players were signed in a bid to make professional football popular in the USA only for the competition to collapsed amidst huge debts.
"This could be great for everybody. Beckham could be a big hit in the States," insisted Stallone, who played the part of a soccer goalkeeper in 'Escape to Victory', the 1981 film charting the exploits of a team made up of inmates from a German Second World War prison camp.
Earlier on Sunday, former England manager Bobby Robson claimed it was Beckham's ousting from the national side which resulted in him joining the LA Galaxy, who play in Major League Soccer (MLS), successor to the NASL.
Real Madrid's 31-year-old former England skipper revealed on Thursday he would next season play for the American team on a 250-million-dollar, five-year contract.
Robson is convinced the decision of national boss Steve McClaren to overlook Beckham for the Euro 2008 qualifier in Croatia last October, despite a long injury list, convinced Beckham his days at the top were numbered.
"The decision killed Beckham's aspiration and hope and, in my view, led directly to this week's announcement that he is off the United States for a very lucrative semi-retirement," 73-year-old Robson claimed in his column for the Mail on Sunday.
"You have to say now that McClaren was right. Those of us, including myself, who wanted Beckham to be involved did so because we felt he was among England's top 25 players.
"In principle he still should be but, in reality, he hasn't done anything this season to prove it. Even if the legs haven't gone, the motivation has."
He added: "What has become clear this week is that David no longer has the appetite to challenge at the very highest level."
Real manager Fabio Capello responded to Beckham's announcement by saying the free-kick expert had played his last game for the Spanish giants.
- AFP
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