ROBBIE KEANE
IRELAND’S RECORD GOAL SCORER
Football in California is, in some ways, football in another world — very different from, say, football on cold and wet wintry days in the Northeast of England, or football in Brentford or Brighton, or Dublin or Dagenham. I got a real feel for the differences when I was invited to L.A. Galaxie’s training camp.
Chatting with some of the players was a revelation — Robbie Keane, for instance. Ireland’s record goal scorer talked about the enormously long flights over and back across the United States that the team was required to make just to fulfil their fixtures. For him there were also the trans-Atlantic flights when he was playing for Ireland. It was very draining, he said.
But he loved training in the warm California sunshine, and he enjoyed the evening games when the temperature was ideal, just right for playing.
He spoke about how Galaxy was doing at the time, about his teammates, the personalities, and the very pleasant social life.
He seemed very relaxed and enjoying life, and made me feel very welcome. As he moved away, I turned to the player closest to where I was standing. It was none other than David Beckham, and he was more than willing to have a chat. More of that anon.
