England 1 Ghana 1

A new-look England team took the field yesterday including Ashley Young and Andy Carroll up front, with Wilshere sitting in front of the back four. Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines were introduced along with Cahill at the back, Jolien Lescott joined them (for Johnson) at half-time.

Barry played in the middle with Wilshere, Downing took the right wing, Hart in goal.

The game started well with a lot of pressure coming from England, countered with a few good moves coming from Ghana, the crowd were vocal in support of Ghana especially when Asamoah Gyan was on the ball. After 30 mins Ashley Young slides in on a Milner cross and hits the bar when it would surely have been easier to score, Carroll is narrowly beaten to the rebound.

First senior international goal for Andy Caroll with after about forty minutes, Ashley Young finds Downing on the edge of the box - fails to gather it but instead leaves the ball for Carroll to strike sweetly into the back of the net on his favoured left foot. At this point England look good for the win and look likely to add to the tally.

The second half started with another good attempt from Young, slightly off-target with this one as it swings over the bar. Increasingly England look the more likely to score and eventually Welbeck and Defoe are brought on for Young and Carroll, Jarvis comes on for Wilshire. However it is inevitably Asamoah Gyan who scores the only other goal of the night to level things for Ghana.

A well-fought draw - fantastic 'visiting' crowd, exciting football, which is not always the case in internationals - and rarely in friendlies... Some things for Capello to consider - he has to be pleased with contributions from Young and Wilshere who have surely secured their places in the next squad. Carroll has his goal, but is not really contributing as much as he should, Lescott is a doubt for the future in my book - one silly foul he gave away could easily have been a penalty on close examination of the replay - also Baines went into too many challenges recklessly in my opinion.

Real Salt Lake 4 LA Galaxy 1

A day to forget for the Galaxy and Beckham contrasting with the success of the English national side in Wales. As England beat Wales 2 - 0 in the European qualifiers, Galaxy collapse away to Real Salt Lake giving away four goals before eventually getting one back through Angel.

The tally included two from within the box that should really have been dealt with by Galaxy defenders, a penalty about which there can be little argument and a drive over the keepers head from the edge of the box. Galaxy is still displaying weakness in defence as has been evident for the last few seasons. Of course, being a day for internationals, The Galaxy were also missing the fire-power of Landon Donovan.

Worth noting the Beckham hit the post from a free-kick, but this was largely due to a deflection that took the ball so far off-target, it is impossible to say whether the kick was good. The goal from Angel came from a Beckham free-kick, but was basically down to keeper-error as he misjudged the ball leaving Angel an open net - I'm not even sure Angel hit the ball with his foot, it looked more like it came off the knee.

LA and coach Bruce Arena have some serious work to do before hosting Philadelphia next week, in what will be their first match-up against this new team who lead the Eastern Conference with two wins out of two so far.

LA Galaxy 1 New England Rev 1

Off to a shaky start in very wet conditions, The Galaxy concede from a header after only two and a half minutes of play. Beckham had a chance to make amends ten minutes later from a freekick, but had to make do with a corner. Over the next few minutes, Galaxy pressure yielded more corners, one made it's way back to Beckham who sent in a looping cross - fumbled by the keeper, dropped to a Galaxy player - in the net, but disallowed - not clear whether this was for a foul on the keeper or offside, but not sure either was true.

Loads more Galaxy pressure follows. more corners, another goal - again disallowed. Offside - possibly, but one of those 'phases of play' calls that could easily have been allowed... More pressure piled on... NE defender handles the ball on the floor - no penalty given. Sooner or later a decision must go Galaxy's way..

38mins more pressure from Galaxy - ball comes loose, scorching shot from Juninho 30 yards or more, past the keeper - goal to Galaxy - no argument this time!

First half ends 1-1 with The Galaxy looking the team most likely to score again, New England have not had a shot since they scored in the opening minutes.

New England wake up a bit for the start of the second half, but Angel takes the field 17 mins in to help liven up The Galaxy. NE get a chance, Joseph is one-on-one with the keeper, but hits the post.

28 mins in and Beckham takes a free-kick - bends it too far outside the near-post. Everyone is struggling with the wet conditions, difficult to judge ball-speed across the sodden ground.

The game finishes with Galaxy looking by far the stronger side, nevertheless, The Revolution hold on to the end. Even in the closing seconds, LA have the ball in the net yet again, Angel marginally offside from an exquisite Beckham pass. Seldom have a team had three goals disallowed in the same game. In summary then, a poor game hampered by the wet conditions, New England very lucky to get a draw. LA should feel pleased with the performance, less than pleased with the score-line.

Seattle 0 Galaxy 1

Narrow margin for the first outing of the season for LA, and quiet game for Beckham (apart from a late booking for a reckless tackle). Seattle started well, but Josh Saunders in the LA goal kept them in the game - he is looking like a great replacement for Ricketts (currently injured).

It was left to Juninho to score the only goal of the game on 57 mins, beating Kasey Keller at his near post despite Keller getting a hand to the ball.

Seattle had plenty of chances but nothing that could get past Josh Saunders who had a fantastic game.

This is a good start for The Galaxy who start the season with an away win, and a clean sheet.

Club Tijuana 2 (4) LA Galaxy 2 (3)

The Galaxy failed to win a penalty shootout against Club Tijuana after a 2-2 tie at the end of 90 minutes. Beckham featured alongside Donovan and new signing Angel. The first LA goal came from a Beckham corner, Beckham was dangerous from set-pieces as you would expect.

Hopefully, some valuable lessons will have been learned - maybe strengthening of the defence (a long-term issue with The Galaxy) is still a problem - at least two goals (one from Donovan) shows that they are getting something right at the front.

I will be interested to observe Angel's contribution, especially now Buddle has gone - From my stand-point, I felt Donovan was unusually ineffective at the end of last season, hopefully he will be refreshed ready for the next match.

Talking of which... Galaxy meet the Seattle Sounders (away) Tuesday 15th March at 6:30pm local time in their first regular MLS match of the new season.

Back at The Galaxy

David Beckham took part in his first Galaxy training session of the year last Thursday, and said his overall fitness is right on schedule.

“My main objective was to get fit for the Galaxy and for the MLS season," Beckham said after training.

Beckham has talked down his desire to play at Tottenham and talked up his desire to complete the coming season with The Galaxy. Reading between the lines, it all looks a bit like a conciliatory gesture to the MLS - maybe trying to head off some of the criticism that an element of the LA fans will want to point in his direction.

Although he has missed some of the LA Galaxy pre-season, it is likely that a fitter, better prepared Beckham is now available for The Galaxy. Having not played under pressure since the end of the last MLS season, he will no doubt be raring to go. This year of all years, it is time for Beckham to make a difference in the MLS.