A wonderful man and a doyen of soccer journalism passes away. Grant Wahl collapsed during the start of extra time in the Argentina vs Netherlands match. He was just 48 years of age. Wahl was recently in the news at Qatar for being detained by security for showing his support for LGBTQ rights by wearing a rainbow soccer T-shirt when he arrived at a game. Qatar expressly forbids such civil rights.
Grant made his name writing for Sports Illustrated and introduced a generation of Americans to soccer. I remember reading his explosive insider book about David Beckham’s arrival transforming the perception of the MLS as a retirement league and his bitter feud with Landon Donovan as they fought to be top dog, potentially threatening to upend the fortunes of the LA Galaxy.
Donovan on Beckham: ” Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain. Fair enough. But at a minimum you should bust your ass every day. I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. But that hasn’t happened.”
Beckham’s tardiness in the league was attributed to his nursing ambitions to still be part of the Three Lions. Fabio Capello had made it clear playing in the MLS would be a potential spoke in the wheel, necessitating Beckham disappearing to AC Milan on a loan spell to bolster his chances of making the England squad. This did not endear him to Donovan and the rest of the Galaxy.
There was resentment too about the princely wages paid to Beckham while many footballers scraped by on a bare minimum.
For the first time, we actually had media chatter about soccer divas and an exciting rivalry generated in a sport many in this country consider important only every four years and little more than a school time hobby. Grant made that happen.
US Soccer released a statement:
“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.
“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”
LeBron James also remembered Grant fondly, as someone cool writing Sports Illustrated’s first cover story about the NBA superstar while still a teenager school phenom.
RIP, Grant. Soccerblog remembers you for helping make the beautiful game a little more beautiful for all of us here.