(From the March 7 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)
When he arrived in England, Eddie Lewis was dubbed the 'American Beckham.' He hates the label, but it fits. Lewis is the best crosser of the ball, a true lefty on a U.S. national team long lacking consummate left wingers
By Ridge Mahoney
The rising blast he nailed into the top corner against Trinidad & Tobago is just one of the attributes a natural left-footer can bring to a soccer team, in the eyes of the man who struck that shot.
Eddie Lewis grew up a lefty and he's far from feeling shunned or ostracized by the other 90 percent of the population.
''I do like being associated with it, whether it's true or not, I'm not sure,'' says Lewis of the curves, the spins, and the trajectories associated with lefties. ''It's a little different on the eye, maybe that's why people pick up on it.''
A decade ago, when Lewis was nearing the completion of his collegiate career at UCLA, the U.S. team had only defender Jeff Agoos as a natural lefty, although Eric Wynalda would often play on the left side of the field by necessity. The current squad is awash in left-sided players: DaMarcus Beasley, Cory Gibbs, Carlos Bocanegra, Greg Vanney and Lewis, to name a few.
Yet Beasley is a slasher and dribbler more than a crosser, and the others are defenders, capable of hitting a decent ball but not likely to zoom upfield to smack a wicked bender on the run. Of the current crop, Vanney is the most adept at curling balls into the box and he's also called upon occasionally to take a free kick.
When the U.S. team wants real width in midfield, however, as it did on the 82-yard expanse of Queen's Park Oval for the Hexagonal opener, there's only one choice.
''He's the most natural guy who can play out wide on the touches when we think we need width,'' said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. ''We're always playing the game, 'How do we best utilize Beasley and Donovan?'
''If we can get away with one holding midfielder, at times that gives us the opportunity to play somebody wide. The other choice is you play Beasley wide on the left and that takes Eddie off the field.''
Since leaving MLS to play in England with at first Fulham and current club Preston North End, Lewis has not only improved his skills and tenacity, he's learned the nuances of playing wide, one of which is when to slide inside.
''His positioning defensively has improved a lot,'' said Arena of what five years in English soccer has infused into one of the original members of the San Jose Clash. ''He's always been a very good crosser of the ball. Now knows when he should stay wide and when he can come inside, like he did on the goal.''
As Eddie Johnson chased down a ball on the right flank and the T&T defenders and midfielders shifted to cover him and Landon Donovan and Brian McBride, Lewis glided into the middle. When Donovan controlled Johnson's pass and turned, all he had to do was lay the ball into Lewis' wheelhouse.
The ball shot off Lewis' left foot and kept rising as keeper Shaka Hislop leaped and stretched as far as he could. No chance. Top corner. U.S., 2-0.
''It's always a little difficult because we play with Eddie Lewis out wide and me and Beas, between the two of us, one of us gets out there,'' said Donovan of taking care of the right side. ''It's something we've done well with, but you have to be careful. Fortunately, they played with three and then five in the middle so we only had one guy out there to worry about, so it worked out.''
CALM ACCEPTANCE. Unlike Donovan, Beasley and only a few others, Lewis is seldom a lock to start for the U.S. He's a regular starter on the left side of midfield for Preston, which is dueling with several clubs for a League Championship playoff spot and a chance at the Premier League.
Despite being a rung down from the top tier, which is where he began his English career with Fulham, Lewis is more than pleased at Preston and brings a calm acceptance to his national team appearances.
''Eddie's got a lot of experience, and if he's not in the first 11, he understands that,'' says Arena.
Lewis went to Fulham in 2000 for a transfer fee of $2 million, but played only 16 games in three turbulent seasons leading up to the 2002 World Cup, where Lewis came through in the round-of-16 game against Mexico.
Beasley was hobbling, and Frankie Hejduk, who had been playing left back in a 4-4-2, was suspended. Arena went to a 3-5-2 and instructed Lewis, who had not started a game in the group phase, to police Jesus Arellano and not worry too much about attacking.
Early in the second half with the U.S. up 1-0, John O'Brien passed a ball up the left flank. Lewis ran onto it and sailed his cross perfectly for Donovan to nod in at the far post.
A reputation for crosses like that had preceded Lewis to England, and to his horror the overheated, overhyped English press had already bestowed upon him a nickname:
''The American Beckham.''
''It's the worst label I've ever been given and it came the day I got over here,'' says Lewis, who still sounds aghast when he talks about it. ''The only reason it came was because it was said I was a very good crosser of the ball. I feel my crossing is good, and at the time Beckham was becoming quite famous for his crossing. All of a sudden I was America's best crosser and I was coming to Britain, so I was the 'American David Beckham.'
''If there's anybody I don't want to be in the same sentence it's probably him for a lot of different reasons. There it was, and it still shows up in the [game] program. It's embarrassing, really.''
MODEST SORT. Being a modest sort, Lewis embarrasses rather easily, and is nothing like the swanky jet-setter with the pop-star wife. And anyway, Becks is a righty.
''People in general like lefties, because for some reason things look better from a lefty,'' says Lewis. ''They say, 'Oh, what a sweet strike.' There's a lot of right-footers who hit the ball or a tennis ball or anything else really well, but a nice, lefty swing in baseball is so much sweeter.''
That sweet strike against T&T highlighted Lewis' 62nd U.S. cap. His first cap occurred in a different era — as a member of a ''scab'' team that went to Peru in October 1996, during a dispute between the players and U.S. Soccer, and was beaten, 4-1.
''When I went in, I had Eric Wynalda saying it was fine and Coach [Steve] Sampson saying it wasn't an issue,'' recalls Lewis. ''There were supposed to be 10 members in camp who were senior national team players anyway. All the rest were taking vacations, apparently, but it didn't work out that way. It's funny when I look back on it, how different it is.''
It was different for Lewis in many ways. The Clash had been knocked out in the first round of the MLS playoffs, which is why he and San Jose teammates Tim Martin, Lawrence Lozzano, Tayt Ianni, Paul Holocher and Ramiro Corrales were available. As a minimum-salaried player, he had to make allowances and take opportunities when they arose.
''I was sleeping on some Colombian guy's floor in San Jose anyway, to save rent during the offseason,'' he says. ''Anybody out of college on a minimum salary, that money doesn't go too far, $500 or $600 a month [in rent] is a lot of money.''
More than two years later, for his first game as national team coach, Arena brought Lewis back into the national team. In another year, he'd completed his MLS career, and it was during a national team camp for a friendly against Tunisia in March 2000 that the call came from Fulham. French manager Jean Tigana, who took over the Cottagers later in 2000, didn't have much use for a lefty, but Preston manager Billy Davies and Arena certainly do.
Arena and Lewis have discussed a move to left back, which Lewis played a few times in MLS, but without significant preparation time (training sessions, a friendly or two) to experiment, Arena won't try it just yet. Maybe some day.
''When Laurie Calloway first put me there, I was really resentful about it,'' says Lewis of the first Clash coach. ''I tried my best, but I was always thinking I wanted to be a left midfielder and when I'm older, I can always move back there. At the time, there was a big void at left midfield on the national team, and I just thought it was my opportunity to do well. I would hate to be a left back when I thought I could offer a little bit more going forward.
''In the right system — like in a diamond midfield — I feel my best spot would be left back. It might not be in the next year or two, but down the road I can see it.''