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Ruud Gullit was back in the United States this week for the first time since his ill-fated stint in charge of the Los Angeles Galaxy came to an end.

Gullit struggled to grasp a full understanding of soccer Stateside during his brief tenure in California and his comments at a training event on Monday were also misguided.

Talking about David Beckham, Gullit said: "David is more than just a football player and I think he does extremely well to give football here a lift. But I doubt if they (U.S. soccer organizers) really want that. I think they are afraid of football because it's so popular everywhere around the world. I think they will just control it so it doesn't become more popular than their American sports."

Gullit's claim that there is some form of conspiracy, either in U.S. soccer or American sports in general, to restrict the sport's popularity is nonsensical. To suggest that the sport's rulers themselves would impinge upon soccer's progress in an utterly self-defeating manner shows just how little understanding Gullit actually acquired while with the Galaxy.

As for other sports ganging up on soccer to ensure it does not threaten the established order, that day is a long way away. At present, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball are so far ahead in terms of popularity that it is hard to imagine them losing too much sleep worrying about being overtaken by soccer any time soon.

The real challenges facing Beckham as he moves toward the midpoint of his stay in L.A. will be trying to find a way to turn the Galaxy into a competitive team instead of seeing them languish as one of MLS's worst sides. The only way for him to make a major imprint on the psyche of the American sports fan would be to spearhead a charge for the MLS Cup, something he has been unable to get close to over the past two seasons.

His performance level with L.A. has dropped off this campaign, and unless there is drastic improvement in 2009, there will be more ammunition for the critics who claim his career is entering a terminal decline.

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