Soccer has finally arrived in America.  The world’s biggest star and the biggest star of the U.S. National Team are teammates in an American league, making headlines internationally.  Unfortunately, the headlines stem from a risible feud that’s as public as it is juvenile.

The initial salvo came from Landon Donovan, who made disparaging remarks about David Beckham in Grant Wahl’s new book, The Beckham Experiment.

“All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us,” Donovan said. “As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways – on the field, off the field.

“Does the fact that he earns that much money come into it? Yeah. If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you’re suspended or not.

“Show up and train hard. Show up and play hard. 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. That hasn’t happened. And I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us.

“I can’t even say he’s a good teammate any more. He’s not shown that. I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good teammate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care.

Beckham returned fire when asked about the comments by the American media.

“It’s unprofessional in my eyes. In every football player’s eyes throughout the world it would be unprofessional to speak out about a teammate especially in the press and not to your face,” Beckham said. “But I’m going to turn it on a positive spin because that’s what this needs. But in 17 years, I have played with the biggest teams in the world and the biggest players and not once have I been criticised for my professionalism. It’s important to get this cleared up and I will be speaking to Landon either this evening or over the next couple of days.

“I’m personally very professional when I am on the field. I don’t care what people say about me off the field, once I’m on the field I’m professional and if there is a chance for him to score, I will be giving him the ball. Me and Landon will talk, but that will be a private conversation.”

Both threw gauntlets at credibility, which is touchy.  This dispute likely will sever any personal or professional relationship.  They may even take the ultimate step and de-friend each other on Facebook.

The Galaxy has been a mess since Beckham arrived, but he deserves some blame.  Since Fabio Capello reopened South Africa, Beckham’s only commitment is to that cause.  Playing in the World Cup is noble, but he has shirked responsibilities and undermined his mission in the States to do so.  Being dutiful is more than just showing up and Beckham has yet to show enough conviction.

Donovan’s assessment may be honest and even sympathetic, but it was inappropriate to express it.  He should have talked to Beckham.  Barring this most mature response, he should have couched his language with Wahl to avoid controversy.  He could have alluded to “the distraction” without a personal attack.  He may have a point, but he attacked a teammate.  The loyalty argument is also a tad hypocritical, since Donovan would have stayed at Bayern Munich had they asked.

Beckham’s situation is untenable.  Fans, media members and teammates won’t welcome him back.  His appeal has passed.  But, we’ve known this since MLS decided not to sell him.  We could lament the blatant unprofessionalism of these two men, but if everyone was professional, no one would need writers.