Galaxy 5 Dallas 1

What a contrast with the last game... Cronin back in goal, Donovan back up front and Beckham seemingly fresh and fit again.
Both sides began with intent, FC Dallas looking to expose Galaxy's weak defence with the long ball and doing just that. Galaxy playing a more European game with a patient build up with a lot of short passes, making them look the better team in the opening 20 minutes. On 24 minutes Chris Klein opens the scoring for Galaxy, coolly converting a chance to slot the ball past the keeper in open play. Just 6 minutes later Buddle takes on the defence bamboozling them with his close control before slamming a left-foot shot past the keeper for Galaxy's second. Just minutes later and Donovans chip-cross gets deflected past the keeper by a defender for 3 - 0, and with only 39 minutes on the clock Buddle gets a second scrambling the ball into the net from a corner taking galaxy into half-time with a seemingly unassailable lead and winning on merit.
Cronin had his fair share of work to do at times and proved himself equal to anything that Dallas could throw at him in the first half.
The second half started badly for LA with Dallas getting a vital goal back, but despite the increased pressure, Galaxy continued to play a patient game and both sides had chances to add goals to the scoresheet. The game showed some ill-will when a donkey disguised as a FC Dallas player called Serioux got onto the pitch and tried to kick Beckham clean out of the stadium. Serioux got a red card for his trouble and Beckham got a yellow for his reaction (not least of which was to blow a kiss and wave Serioux off the field). Both sides can be thankful that the officials got involved to keep the players apart...
Beckham let his feet do the talking by setting up Buddle for his hat-trick, Galaxy going 5-1 up in the game. Over-all you can't fault the performance or the result, Galaxy are looking very good today.

Whitecaps 2 Galaxy 1

From what I saw of the game, this was a woeful performance with little control being exhibited by either team. Galaxy lacked any real direction up front and seemed to miss Donovan who was out through injury.
Whitecaps quickly converted early pressure into a goal which was only equalled a minute short of the half-time whistle when a cross from Beckham found Gordon's head before the keeper could get to it. Gordon headed the ball into an open net giving the Galaxy some hope for the second half.
Galaxy failed to capitalise on this chance to get some purchase on the game, and hopefully we can blame a poor playing surface for the inaccurate passing and general low level of play from both sides. What should have been a clash of teams representing the MLS against the USL-1 took on the appearance of a game at a much lower level, with passes going astray and players seemingly not able to control the ball at their feet. Even Beckham was clearly struggling to place a pass or a cross and was substituted in the 75th minute having only got one decent ball into the box (including a disappointing free kick which failed even to rise above the wall) in the entire second half.
Significantly, ice was applied to Beckhams right foot which would explain why he was mis-firing with almost every touch of the ball. I winced when I saw the tackle last week in which his right foot was blocked sending him tumbling into the air. I would not be surprised to learn that there may be a significant injury here, with the England vs USA game just two weeks away....
Beckham must allow time for injuries to heal properly if he wants to be able to finish his career in style otherwise he could go out with a disappointing whimper rather than a bang.

New York Red Bulls 2 LA Galaxy1

After having a header disallowed in the opening minutes, Alan Gordon finds the net again for The Galaxy equalising against New York, but Juan Pablo Angel responded almost immediately to put New York back in front. Despite Galaxy having much of the play and putting the Red Bulls on the back foot, they couldn't convert their other chances.
Beckham was in the thick of things picking up a yellow card for an overly-strong challenge, showing that he is still highly motivated and displaying enthusiasm and a good level of fitness. The Galaxy probably deserved something from the game, but their league position remained unchanged even after the loss.
Next up is an exhibition match against Vancouver on Tuesday before facing Dallas next Sunday

England must make semi's

The BBC announced today that the English FA have asked that Capello delivers on reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup or Euro 2012 - (presumably this was agreed before his appointment last year...). If this were to happen in 2010, then it would be England's best performance in 14 years as they have not reached the semi's of a major tournament since Terry Venables took the team to the semi-final of Euro '96 (and that was on home soil...).

The highs of that tournament were the fabulous volley from Paul Gascoigne against the Scots, and the 4-1 win against Holland. The lows were Gascoigne's celebration of the same goal....and losing to Germany on penalties...

The FA has also revealed taking its plans for the National Football Centre at Burton out of mothballs and dusting them off to have it up and running in two years time, and plans to install an 'International Performance Director' overseeing all national teams apart from the Mens Senior team.

Real Salt Lake 2 LA Galaxy 2

Steve Cronin had a busy night and came under pressure twice within the opening minutes as Salt Lake seemingly cut open the Galaxy defence with just too much ease. The first and second chances fell to Fabian Espindola, while we were still pondering how he missed the first chance, he was in again and made no mistake with the second. Galaxy were down and offered little resistance as Salt lake consolidated their lead with a second after 20 mins. Beckham was playing too deep and long balls were finding no-one up front.
Despite this, and against the run of play, the magic of Beckham was on display and he effortlessly put the ball over the Salt lake keepers head from the edge of the box for the first comeback goal in the 36th minute. A re-enlivened (or maybe just an enlivened) Galaxy took to the task and began to threaten the Salt lake goal. A free kick and a trade-mark Beckham goal sealed a 2 - 2 draw on 40 minutes. Chances fell to both sides in the second half with Steve Cronin keeping his team in the game, Gordon disappointed with two clear chances wasted for the Galaxy and the game finished honors even...
Two more goals takes Beckham's seasons tally up to 3, and the Beckham-effect is finally coming into the MLS. It is evident that Beckham is still a major draw to fans of all sides and the start to this season is certainly shaping up better than the disappointing end to last season in that respect.
Players like Beckham can perform better when there is something at stake, and having the lousy start in the MLS has given Beckham something to prove - history shows us that when he has something to prove, and when the chips are down, he will deliver and that is why he can still form a vital part of the England squad.

Beckham and Donovan

Despite managing to get on the score-sheet early this MLS season, anyone who knows anything about Beckham knows that he is dangerous in front of goal, but never likely to be your top-scorer. Beckham is master of the 'assist' from wide out on the right-hand wing, but does not often dominate the penalty area. This is where his pairing with Landon Donovan must be seen as inspirational. His hat-trick last weekend is no isolated incident with his record as The US team all-time leading striker, and the player of the year trophies that must take up considerable room in his lounge, the Californian is a vital part of Beckhams plan to dominate the MLS.
Of course, where Beckham does excel is from the set play, a free kick outside the box is Beckham territory, and he went close to emphatically proving that point on Saturday. Rest assured, it will not be long before these will be stretching the back of the net when the opportunity arises.

Galaxy 5, Chivas 2

A Hatrick for Donovan after been booked early on for knocking the ball past the keeper with his hand, and a brace for Alan Gordon in the first SuperClasico of the season. The game was all level at 2-2 up to the last 15 minutes, but the substitution of Gordon for Buddle late in the second half paid of very quickly. Chivas goals ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous with a sublime first goal from Sacha Kljestan. Their second said more about the Galaxy defense as a comedy of errors finished when the ball dropped at the feet of Ante Razov with the defense all at sea, he just blasted straight through them with the goalkeeper floundering.

Beckham can't really count his contribution in terms of goals or even direct assists in this match, but his performance as captain was sound nonetheless, and his involvement certainly contributed to a couple of the goals. He came close with a trademark free kick from distance, but just managed to put it over the bar.

LA Galaxy 2 Houston Dynamo 2

Terrific pressure from The Galaxy particularly in the second half, only brought a draw through two goals from Donovan. Once again Beckham was the provider for these two goals plus a whole host of chances in a game where he was able to demonstrate why he was brought to The Galaxy in the first place. Houston Dynamo scored first and when Donovan leveled the score in the second half, they quickly responded to take the lead once again. Donovan slid to the rescue to get onto the end of a Beckham ball keeping the Galaxy in the game. Donovan is building up an impressive tally of five goals so far, Beckham so has just the one goal, but a hat-full of assists which is what his game is all about. All eyes on the next game as The Galaxy really could do with another win under their belts.

Gift for Beckham

I read today on American Beckham about Beckham's team-mates in the England squad buying him a special gift for his 100th England cap - and what a gift, a gold-plated custom engraved 32GB iPod - very nice.... that is a bit of class and well-deserved. Hopefully he will be able to go on to contribute to the England cause again, and current form seems to point to the fact that he is firing on all cylinders at the moment.

LA Galaxy 2 Toronto FC 3

Galaxy had much of the play with Beckham been given the chance to bang his trademark right-wing crosses in to the box, but they were unable to convert anything in the early part of the game. Twice Galaxy conceded and twice they equalised, with the winning goal coming in the final two minutes leaving Galaxy to consider what might have been if the earlier pressure had been converted into goals. Beckham had the chance to deliver one of his speciality free-kicks but ended up finding the wall rather then the back of the net.
A spirited performance which may provide a platform for manager Ruud Gullit to build on for the future.

Galaxy Schedule

After a disappointing start to the 2008 MLS season for LA Galaxy, the comeback last week was a huge relief for players and manager alike. They must have been desperate to capitalise on the latest victory, but have to wait another 10 days before getting a chance to show whether the 2-0 result was a fluke, or a sign of things to come...
I found a good website for keeping track of Galaxy's MLS games and have placed a link in my sidebar. This will make it easier for me to know when to look out for match reports and keep blog readers updated with the latest results. I also visited LA Galaxy.com and signed up for regular news emails. I note that Beckham is up for 'goal of the week' for his first goal of the season, which is not bad... check out the link here and see the goal... you can vote for it, or one of the other goals on the shortlist.
Check back regularly for all things Beckham (strictly sports-related...)

Beckham scores in Galaxy triumph

After the disappointing performance last weekend, The Galaxy redeemed themselves beating the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 at the Home Depot ground. Beckham delighted the crowd by scoring in the eighth minute and setting up Donovan to score a second goal 20 minutes later. Again Becks played the full 90 minutes and was understandably jubilant after the game, feeling that he has at last started the job he came to do...
Beckhams first (and hopefully not the last) goal in the 2008 MLS season was matched by another personal record, a first ever clean-sheet for Los Angeles goalkeeper Steve Cronin...
LA Galaxy next play on Sunday Apr 13 when they host Toronto FC.