Like many Americans, Giants rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham will be tuning in this afternoon for our World Cup match against Ghana.
But for Beckham, there will be a tinge of “what might have been” as well.
According to Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger, Beckham was offered a tryout for the national team when he was a teenager.
“I played seriously until I was about 13 or 14 then the [US] national team wanted me to try out for it,” Beckham said. “It’s just so much for a young kid to have to decide that. You’d have to leave your family. But I always played in the premiere leagues. I was 11 playing U-14, stuff like that. I was always playing up. . . .
“Soccer was my first love so whenever I think back on those moments, I think of what could have been. If it wasn’t in God’s plans, it wasn’t in God’s plans.”
Beckham obviously did OK for himself by focusing on track and football, and will be back on the field for the Giants minicamp tomorrow.
But today, he’ll be thinking about the other futbol.