Whether it was due to travel-weariness, or being asked to play out of position, Beckham looked a shadow of his normal self and The Galaxy looked very ordinary against unremarkable opposition.
Confined to a midfield role which he has played in the past, Beckham lacked energy and vitality in a team that did not seem to click at all. Sure enough Bruce Arena has a great record and is beloved of many an American soccer fan, but his tactics were suspect for this match.
Rookie Bryan Jordan was put on the right, and whilst he showed energy and determination (which were the reasons Arena cited for placing him there) his end product was missing despite his battling, he was outplayed and Galaxy missed the service normally provided from Beckham. It took seventy minutes for this truth to dawn on Arena eventually taking Jordan off and replacing him with Alan Gordon.
The first half was a non event hardly even worth a mention, neither team showed an enormous desire or ability to stamp their authority on the game. 10 minutes into the second there was a rare moment of excitement as Beckham whipped in a shot fom distance which travelled right to left across the goal, but shot past the left hand post. It was another ten minutes in when a cross came low across the Galaxy goal and got squeezed into the net for the opener. Just two minutes later a Kansas player was allowed (as Beckham backed off) to send a shot in from thirty-five yards which slammed into the right hand corner leaving the keeper standing.
This was the point that Alan Gordon came on and Beckham assumed a roving role, popping up on his favoured right-hand side slinging passes in, popping up on the left and in defence too. Galaxy piled the pressure on, but the game was lost and the legs were tired.
A thoroughly disappointing game from a Galaxy point of view extending their win-less streak to twelve games, and lessening the chance of getting to the play offs.
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