Don Garber defended David Beckham in an interview with Jeff Carlisle, who asked the MLS Commissioner if the Beckham deal has been everything Garber hoped for considering the Englishman has either been away on loan or injured for significant chunks of time that he's been contracted to play in MLS:

"I'm not quite sure I knew what it would be when we signed him, other than create tremendous excitement for the league, and explode our awareness, and even our credibility, both here and abroad. And it's done that," said Garber.

That is measured, Garber said, "By the level of respect that the international football community has for MLS, because they are able to see all of the developments in the league. And also we have somebody like [Beckham] who is being chased by Tottenham and is playing for the L.A. Galaxy. I continue to scratch my head when people question where David Beckham is in his career. He had a top EPL side challenging for the Champions League trying to sign [him]. He's good enough for Tottenham. Why isn't he good enough for MLS?

"It's one of those things that astounds me. Would I prefer that he not go out on loan during that time? Of course I would. That's not something we're shy about telling David or saying publicly. But it was part of our need to address the fact that we have a schedule that is very different from the rest of the world players."