MIAMI: David Beckham’s (pictured) hopes of seeing his new Miami football team play at a prime spot at the port of Miami were yesterday all but blown out of the water in a major setback for the former Manchester United idol.
The ex-Real Madrid and England midfielder wants to build a $250m state-of-the-art open-air stadium with 25,000 seats for his recently acquired Major League Soccer (MLS) team.
His preferred site, at PortMiami, would have spectacular sweeping views of Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami.
But shipping interests and local authorities have opposed the proposal, fearing it will disrupt port operations.
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday voted against the port site and it looks increasingly likely Beckham will have to settle for another waterfront area nearby that does not share the same impressive view.
Beckham’s representatives on Monday admitted the alternative option -- at a pier in congested downtown Miami -- was now the likeliest contender for the stadium.
“It’s unfair to keep giving Mr. Beckham and his group any hopes that things can happen in a place that has so many negatives,” Rebeca Sosa, chair of the local board, said in reference to PortMiami.
The final decision will be put to local voters in a referendum.
The alternative site would be next to the American Airlines Arena where the Miami Heat basketball team plays.
The stadium should be ready to house the as-yet-unnamed team for the 2017-2018 season. AFP
Van Basten is keen to follow Van Gaal’s coaching path
AJAX: Former Ajax Amsterdam and AC Milan striker Marco van Basten (pictured) would like to follow his compatriot Louis van Gaal into a coaching job at a major international club.
Van Basten, who scored 24 goals in 58 matches for the Dutch national side and coached them for four years, said he wanted to use his job at AZ Alkmaar as a springboard to emulate Van Gaal, whose own career was revived after he took the provincial club to the league title in 2009.
Van Gaal, who is taking the Netherlands to next month’s World Cup finals in Brazil, was on Monday named as Manchester United manager for the next three seasons.
“I’d like to follow the path of Van Gaal. He is a top coach who did really well at AZ,” he told a news conference in Alkmaar.
Van Gaal’s league success with AZ led to his appointment by Bayern Munich the next season, where he claimed a league and cup double in his first term.
“I’m still a coach in the beginning phase of his career even though I had a strange start to my coaching career,” Van Basten, a former European Footballer of the Year, added. Van Basten, 49, retired prematurely in 1995 due to an ankle injury.
His coaching career began with Ajax Amsterdam’s reserves in 2003 and a year later he became Netherlands manager, staying from 2004 to 2008, after which he spent a year at Ajax before taking a three-year break. REUTERS
