Asian press quick to turn on Beckham after years of adoration
After years of helping to make David Beckham the most popular sports figure in Asia, the region's media turned on the England captain over the weekend after his disastrous Euro 2004 campaign.
After years of helping to make David Beckham the most popular sports figure in Asia, the region's media turned on the England captain over the weekend after his disastrous Euro 2004 campaign.
"Blow it like Beckham," read the front-page headline of Singapore's Straits Times on Saturday underneath a photo of him slumped on the ground after his penalty miss in the quarter final shoot-out loss against Portugal.
Its sister paper, the Sunday Times, followed up with a description of Beckham as a one-sided player whose slide to mediocrity began the day he met his pop-star wife, Victoria.
"Footballer, pop star, philanderer, flop - in that chronological order, the short history of David Beckham," the Sunday Times said in a full broadsheet page devoted to the 29-year-old.
"In just one season, the world has witnessed the downfall of the game's most phenomenal brand, one so ubiquitous in its global attack that it seems such a shame he is now defenceless in defeat, because, with or without his famed right foot, the poor fellow really isn't skilfull enough."
Singapore's rival tabloid publication, the New paper, was even more scathing on the midfielder.
"No-one is more over-hyped than David Beckham. And no-one is more underachieved," it said in its Sunday sports pages.
"The kid who could do things that has put the genius of Eric Cantona in the shade has turned into a standard midfield water carrier (which ironically is a description that Cantona used about France's World Cup and Euro 2000 winning captain Didier Deschamps)."
In equally football-obsessed Thailand where Beckham is treated with hero worship, the press was generally gentler.
Headlines such as the Nation newspaper's: "Becks blunders as curse strikes again" stood in contrast with the Matichon newspaper that simply said: "Missed" and other articles that described him as "broken hearted".
But a column in the popular Siam Sport Daily did take direct aim at Beckham.
"England would have gone to the semi-final if (Wayne) Rooney had not been injured, the referee did not take sides with the host country and David Beckham did not kick an idiot penalty shot which he blamed on the field," the paper said.
The Times of India's report on England's loss to Portugal match was headlined "The New Miss England" accompanied by three pictures of Beckham as he sent his penalty shot skywards.
Even Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, who is a soccer fan, wrote a column in the Hindustan Times daily headlined: "Becks form disappointing".
"In Rooney's absence it was the responsibility of Beckham and (Michael) Owen to take control of the situation. I am very disappointed with Beck's form," he said in his column.
In Australia, the Sunday Telegraph rubbed salt into "Pommie" wounds by labelling Beckham a "show phoney".
"David Beckham sells a lot of soft drink and mobile phones but he still can't hit the net from 12 yards," it said. "Jonny Wilkinson wouldn't have skied it higher," it added, referring to England's rugby fly-half.
Beckham-mania has for years run rampant in Asia, where his model looks, charm, targeted promotional activities and a previously adoring media have all helped to give him iconic status.
His frequent promotional tours to Asia generate an intense publicity normally reserved for the world's hottest music stars, and his endorsements in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and elsewhere generate him millions of dollars.