Chivas USA 1 LA Galaxy 2 Beckham scores!

Beckham starts in a more central role, and has a chance early on - the chance is wasted high and wide much to the delight of the Chivas supporters. On 7 mins Chivas hit the Galaxy goalpost, and in the very next minute, Beckham puts Buddle one-on-one with the Chivas keeper. Buddle chips the keeper and the ball tantalizingly bounces back off the cross-bar.

On 23 minutes, Buddle makes amends and extends his lead as the leading goal-scorer in the MLS, 1-0 to The Galaxy.

On 38 mins, Buddle is pulled back giving Beckham the chance to demonstrate his dead-ball skills, he does just that and the score is now 2-0 to The Galaxy... Admittedly the free-kick was at the perfect distance, but he slotted it beautifully in the top right hand corner giving the keeper little chance.

Galaxy have stopped short of dominating the half as they continue to show frailty in defence, yet Chivas look unlikely to claw back the two-nil lead that LA take into the half-time break.

Second Half:

Chivas came out from the break determined to make an impact, making their first chance with a headed attempt on goal after just 20 seconds. It took another 20 minutes for Chivas to make a dent in the LA Galaxy lead. Alan Gordon (ex-LA Galaxy) headed towards goal, Rickets parried, but only up into his own net. Gordon was shown to be offside in the replay, but the goal stood and Chivas are back in the game as Beckham is substituted (Eddie Lewis). Ironically a number of Beckham's second half searching passes were flagged (quite wrongly) as off-side, so to have Gordon scoring from an offside position did not please Galaxy supporters and staff.

The Galaxy struggle a little without Beckham especially as Donovan does not appear to be firing on all cylinders...

The referee made a mockery of himself on 77 mins. Eddie Lewis was on the end of a studs-up sliding tackle, in his attempt to jump out of the way, he landed on the Chivas player who had narrowly missed breaking his leg. To the consternation of the bench (who witnessed the proceedings at close hand), the ref immediately sent Lewis off! Beckham came off the bench to remonstrate with the ref along with a whole crowd of players and staff. After a few minutes trying to sort out the mess, the ref eventually booked the offending Chivas player! I know the officials have a hard job, but some make themselves look silly. How can you acknowledge the foul (by the booking) and then send off the player who was fouled (even if, as a result the offending player gets hurt..)?

Either way, The Galaxy are up by a goal, but down by a player and hanging on at this stage. Four minutes of extra time are called, most of which is dominated by Chivas - However, The Galaxy hold out against the run of play and resume the lead of the Western Conference.