Two time Comeback Player of the year award winner Chris Klein certainly knows something about coming back from injury. After Wednesday’s practice at the Home Depot Center, he had a few words on coming back from injury, and what Saturday’s game means to soccer in America.
When asked what it takes to come back from an injury, “Takes the hard work when all of you aren’t around,” Klein said. " It takes the hard work, getting up early in the morning, it takes working through the pain, going beyond that instant gratification, and this is a long process for David [Beckham] and it was for me. The good thing is with these injuries you see improvement day after day and that’s what he’s starting to see, starting to touch the ball again, and he just has to continue to work, which we know that he’ll do."
Chris Klein said that David Beckham got the same good natured ribbing that everyone else does when they’ve been away for awhile, “Where have you been?” type stuff, but added what getting Beckham back could mean, “He’s been in the locker room a little bit last couple of days or so, and having him around and kinda hanging with the guys is a very good thing, but having him out here and to see him moving the way that he is, kicking the ball around running…is great for him but more importantly I think it’s very very good for the Galaxy, the possibility that we’ll get a healthy David Beckham back before the end of the season.”
Of course, players like Beckham, and recently Red Bull transfers Thierry Henry and Raphael Marquez have brought a lot of attention to this Sunday’s matchup. “Sold out games in New York are good for our league,” Klein said. “It’s a road game for the Galaxy and it’s a chance for us to get back in the winning ways, but to talk about the Red Bulls to talk about their team now, they are a very good team and then they added on Henry and Marquez. So they became that much better. I think for us it becomes a tough game, a tough matchup for us, but it’s one of those marquee matchups that this league needs, um and then hopefully we can build that rivalry, that New York, LA rivalry with big stars and most importantly good product on the field.”
When asked about the difference between sold out friendlies against international competition and sold out regular season MLS matched, Klein said, “That’s the only way that our league will grow.”