AL-RAYYAN, Qatar – Over the years DaMarcus Beasley has always hustled both on and off the field, from the blingy jewelry collection he launched in Scotland while playing for Rangers to a youth soccer school he operates in his native Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where he’s also part-owner and director of soccer operations for USL club Fort Wayne FC.That journey continues in Qatar this month.“DMB” has arrived at the 2022 World Cup to work as an ambassador for Major League Soccer, the competition where he began and ended his distinguished 20-year playing career, and give broadcast commentary a shot as part of Fox’s coverage team.Ironically, the last time he stepped onto this stage, he was declining all media requests as a member of the United States’ 2014 squad in Brazil, preferring to focus on his game as he lived out his fourth World Cup experience, becoming the only USMNTer ever to reach that milestone.“I guarantee you, people looked at this list and were like, ‘DaMarcus is going media?! Nooooo,’” Beasley told Pro Soccer Wire with a laugh at the USMNT’s training base this week. “I didn’t even expect this. But I’m embracing it. I’m having fun with it as well. It’s not just doing it, like, I’m really enjoying doing it.“Being on this side of the spectrum, I never thought I would be, because I was never really a talker,” added the retired winger. “If I’m not good, then OK. I’ll be happy with the work that I put in. But I do want to put in the work, put in the time to make the best effort for myself.”
Stream all the World Cup action with fuboTV. Try a free trial.He’s doing digital hosting and analysis alongside Jimmy Conrad, Sacha Kljestan and Melissa Ortiz, and will reunite with his former teammates Clint Dempsey and Maurice Edu for Fox’s coverage of the USMNT’s massive Group B match vs. England on Friday.He was kind enough to dish out a bit of insight ahead of a showcase occasion that could determine whether Gregg Berhalter’s team goes home early, or sticks around Qatar into the knockout rounds.“With England, if they play four [in the back], that means they want to attack, they’re going to attack, they want to press us, they want to get after us. We’ll see how they line up,” he said. “I don’t think they’ll go back to a five [man defense]. I’ll be very surprised if they did after the result they just had against Iran.“We have to be smart in how we press. Can’t press for the whole 90 minutes. I know we kind of baited Wales to play and then went after that. I think sometimes we’re going to have to press a little bit higher, because I think there are mistakes in that [England] back line. If we can press well, and as a team and not individually, I think we can create them some problems.”
Beasley was an unused substitute when the Yanks snatched a 1-1 draw versus the Three Lions at South Africa 2010, thanks mainly to Rob Green mishandling a Dempsey shot for the U.S. equalizer. And in 2002 he and Landon Donovan were fresh-faced kids — the 2000s’ version of Gio Reyna and Tim Weah, perhaps — who helped the USMNT make a surprise quarterfinal run the last time the World Cup was held in Asia.“We had the more experienced guys around us. So maybe our mistakes or our mishaps were overshadowed by other things. So I think that’s half the battle, to be honest,” said Beasley. “As far as the youthfulness of it, yeah, they’re inexperienced — in a World Cup. But I think it’s a good thing. I think they can use that to their advantage.”Dempsey’s been an unexpected television hit since he emerged from quiet retirement, and Beasley is taking inspiration from his friend.“It’s good to see Clint out there. People love him because — and it’s what I’m trying to find — he’s himself. He doesn’t try to act a certain way. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not. He’s just Clint,” he said. “I think that’s why people enjoy watching him on TV, because he’s so authentic, you know? So I’m just starting, I’m trying to find my way. And hopefully I can have the same kind of short success that he’s having.“It’s all about chemistry, on that side of it. Who you’re working with, who you kind of vibe with, I think that’s important.”
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