Henry Shines, Beckham Falters At Start Of MLS Season

The Major League Soccer season is off to a start that has delighted one of the league's most accomplished foreign players and dismayed another of them.

Thierry Henry, who starred for Arsenal and F.C. Barcelona before turning 32 and joining the New York Red Bulls in 2010, was named player of the week twice and then, not surprisingly, player of the month for March, during which he scored twice against Colorado and then three times against Montreal.

But the far more thoroughly celebrated David Beckham, who has now played longer for the L.A. Galaxy than he did for Real Madrid, though not as long as he did for Manchester United, is reportedly disgruntled.

The rest of the league was expected to move aside for the defending champion Galaxy this season, but L.A. has stumbled out of the gate, losing twice in three games. Beckham was removed at halftime during the loss to New England.

"I'm sure he's not pleased about it," L.A. Coach Bruce Arena said, but who knows? Perhaps the early exit enabled one of the world's most energetic product endorsers to refresh himself at a local fast food emporium, as he is shown in a recent Burger King advertisement, ordering a strawberry-banana smoothie.

Though Beckham has rarely been removed from a game early unless he's been injured or he's kicked somebody with malice aforethought, he's said to be healthy these days ... and no wonder, as he's added those no-doubt nutritious fruit drinks to his diet. He and the Galaxy will have an opportunity to begin turning their season around Saturday afternoon against undefeated Sporting Kansas City.

Thierry Henry will attempt to augment his league-leading total of five goals when New York faces the Crew in Columbus.

As the commercial says, "exciting things are happening at Burger King."

And perhaps soon they'll also be happening again in Los Angeles.