Melbourne Victory 2 (3), LA Galaxy 2(4)

In what proved to be the toughest test of the tour, The Galaxy drew 2-2 with hosts Melbourne victory in their final exhibition match, going on to take the victory in the penalty shoot-out.

It was penalties that got them the draw in the first place, both of them sent home by Robbie Keane. Beckham had a chance to repeat his rare trick of a goal from his own half, this time narrowly missing the target.

Berhalter came on for Beckham in the 89th minute, sparing Beckham the penalty shoot-out - Berhalter scored his penalty and LA took the honours despite Landon Donovan sending his effort over the bar.

Donovan is heading for another short stint at Everton in January, Beckham looks increasingly likely to be heading for Paris..

Indonesia 0 LA Galaxy 1

The Galaxy continued their MLS form as they start their Asia Pacific Tour 2011. With the whole squad minus a couple (Ricketts having been traded and Birchall left at home to deal with domestic affairs), it was nonetheless a lot a unfamiliar faces that graced the Indonesian turf to grind out a win for The Galaxy in typical gritty style. One would like to think that a full star-studded squad would have made more of an impression, but a win is a win, and The Galaxy have 'blooded' some players who normally don't get the chance to play under the top-class spotlight.

It was Robbie Keane who scored after 14 minutes, the ball falling to him out of a penalty-box scramble - his finish was sharp and precise as he placed it just inside the right-hand post. More chances followed but went unconverted, and the home side was lucky to only concede the one goal in the first half.

Keane was substituted at 60 minutes, and Beckham had a few set-pieces to try a trade-mark goal, but failed to find the mark. Beckham stayed on the park for almost 85 minutes and left to a standing ovation. Indonesia came into the game more in the second half and crafted a few chances without managing to get anything past reserve keeper Brian Perk. The Galaxy see the game out retaining the one goal lead.

LA Galaxy 1 Manchester City 1 (6-7 on penalties)

David Beckham went on record this week accusing Manchester City of trying to 'buy' their way to the top, contrasting with the Manchester United story of consistent performance over a long top-flight history. Later this week, The MLS All-Stars with Beckham amongst their number will get the chance to show their class against Manchester United, today Manchester City get the chance to show just what they have in the squad although it is unlikely that at this point in the season, The Galaxy will be in a position to field their first choice squad for ninety minutes.

The first half was dominated by Manchester City as they easily controlled the majority of the play - after 20 minutes Balliotelli converted a penalty for Man City as Micah Richards was brought down in the area. However just a few minutes later Balliotelli found himself substituted by Mancini after outrageous 'showboating' in front of goal. His offence was to turn his back on the LA keeper when clear in the penalty area and try (unsuccessfully) to back-heel the ball into the net. The crowd, the opposition and even team-mates were equally appalled, and Balliotelli was in no doubt that he had offended his manager when he was called to the bench and removed from the game (I believe he was also booked for his petulant display). Balltiolli is living proof that you can give a child a mans' wages, but it doesn't mean he will grow up - Premier League fans are used to his bizarre behaviour, he apparently has not matured.

Beckham played most of the first half as a make-shift left-back, and with the All-star game looming, was not expected to come out for the second half.

Man City go into half time one-nil up, and the second half appeared to be a continuance of the first, until 52 minutes when A MaGee strike from distance soared over Joe Harts head for a spectacular LA goal. This inspired a frantic 5 minutes for LA when they pressed the Man City goal until they regained composure and possession. The second half looked a lot more evenly balanced even with some key LA players missing, and a debut for 16 year old Jack McBean up front.

LA hold on for the rest of the ninety and the game ends at 1 - 1 in normal time - penalties to follow...

After 2 clean penalties each, Juninho hits the post for The Galaxy - but Perk saves the last and final penalty of the initial five. Jack McBean has his penalty saved, but Lescott for Man City has a penalty saved by Perk too. Gonzales gets a goal despite Joe Hart getting a good hand to it.. We are up to the ninth round, and Hart saves from De Le Garza, Joe Hart himself takes the ninth penalty for Manchester City and smacks the ball with some venom past his counter-part Perk. Man City take the points...

Denmark 1 England 2

I know I was a little late getting this up, but as Beckham was not even in the squad, it is not really a Beckham story.

The main points being England initially showed little prowess in defence when allowing a long cross to be headed beyond Joe Hart in the England goal early in the match. Just a minute or so later, Theo Walcott sends a cross in for Darren Bent that easily found the back of the net.

Only ten minutes gone and two goals scored 1-1.

The score remained the same going into the break, and a slightly changed side came out for the second half Scott Parker, Gareth Barry and Ashley Young introduced as direct replacements for Lampard, Rooney and Wilshere.

England began to take over in the second half and show some of that dominance that was a feature of their World Cup Qualifiers. With just 20 minutes to go, Glen Johnson went on one of his runs that found him with the ball at his feet on the edge of the box. He generously crossed the ball into the path of the oncoming Ashley Young who accurately passed the ball beyond Sorrenson in the Danish goal 1-2.

There were chances, but none that altered the score as England went home deserved victors, able to dominate even with a substantial injury list.

England outclassed by France

England youngsters never looked likely to take control of this game, standing off far too much and giving France too much room. France, sensing the fear in the English players, had three shots within the first ten minutes - England had one free-kick taken by Gerrard, collected too easily by the French 'keeper.

At their seventh shot, France scored just quarter of an hour in, 1-0 France.

After 28 long minutes, England have their second strike on goal, straight to the 'keepers hands again.. At the end of the first half, England have been thoroughly outplayed and outclassed, 'lucky to get nil' as the old joke goes.

Almost unbelievably Capello then takes off two experienced players in Barry and Ferdinand, he also replaces Walcott with Adam Johnson - at least that was a sensible move. Walcott had two sniffs of the ball in the first half with little to show for it.

Just 9 mins into the second half, a ball crossed in from wide finds two French strikers in space, one of them scores and England are two-nil down. Only now do England show any spirit with Gerrard nodding a free-kick across the top of the goal. After 71 mins débutante Andy Carroll is replaced by Jay Bothroyd. A few minutes later Gerrard latches onto a loose ball in the box and shoots narrowly past the far post. 82 mins and Nasri nearly makes it 3-0 hitting the post, meanwhile Gerrard signals to the bench that he needs a replacement. Crouch comes on with 6 mins to go, he dangles a long limb in the air to guide an over-hit corner beyond the 'keepers reach. England have one back, Crouch has barely been on the pitch for 30 seconds. England are finally up and running but it is far too late, more chances come and go, but even five minutes of extra time cannot get England out of this mire. England lose 2-1 to France, and were lucky to only lose by the one goal.

Conclusions from this match are:

• England are missing some key players who are looking irreplaceable right now.
• Carroll looked a good prospect for the future, although what was asked of him on the night was probably unreasonable.
• Too many youngsters inexperienced at this level will not hold sway against a tight international outfit.
• Putting on the same shirt does not make you a 'team'....

England 2 Hungary 1

This new look England team, with a new formation started the game well retaining 100% possession for the first 5 minutes or so right from the kick-off. Yet the longer they went without scoring, the more anxious fans and players became.

However, in the first few minutes Rooney had the ball in the net shortly before realising he had been flagged for off-side. Other chances came for this team which included the likes of Walcott, Jagielka, Adam Johnson and Joe Hart in goal (none of whom played in the World Cup). Walcott was a revelation, skipping past players and even getting crosses in - one lovely cut-back saw Adam Johnson uncharacteristically fire over the bar from close range.

England played efficiently and dominated the first half, which finished 0-0, nevertheless the fans were not delighted...

The second half saw the introduction of more new blood in the form of Keiran Gibbs, Bobby Zamora, Ashley Young and Dawson. It was just 15 minutes into the half that saw Dawson make an error, going to ground and allowing Zoltan Gera space in front of goal. The resulting pass and shot was deflected towards the goal, Dawson came flying in to make amends by clearing the ball milliseconds before crossing the line, but the linesman had already flagged and the goal was given. England 1-0 down, it wasn't as blatant as Lampards effort against Germany, but now England have suffered through linesman error in two games on the trot...

This goal (as so often happened in the World Cup qualifiers) animated England, Milner came on for Rooney (no doubt an hour was the limit stipulated by Sir Alex..), and a few minutes later Gerrard found himself in a bit of space 25 yards from goal and struck the ball with venom into the left-hand corner, 1-1 and game on!

4 minutes later and Gerrard scored again, this time using exquisite skills in the box rather than brute force, forcing his way through defenders and poking the ball past the keeper to seal an England victory - Dependable Gerrard, a 30-year-old in a team of youngsters, stepping up when Rooney had left the field - what a night for the England captain.

All-in-all, a solid performance to settle the nerves, Adam Johnson will surely be scoring his first goal in an England shirt fairly soon, he had the chance to play both on the left, and on the right and looked good. Walcott looked good, Gibbs looked good, Gerrard was inspired, Zamora had a great chance in the closing minutes tipped over the bar, as did Adam Johnson. Hart stood up well to deny Gera a late equaliser for Hungary - the only question is whether Rooney is really in the right place mentally when he puts on the shirt in the current England line-up...

Platinum Stars 0 England 3

England 1 - 0 up through Defoe after 3 minutes, Platinum Starts won a (fairly questionable) penalty which they missed... replays show little reason for awarding a penalty.
10 changes in the second half...
Rooney got booked after about 15 mins - almost inevitable, he doesn't do 'friendly'...
Joe Cole scores a second goal for England, Rooney is over-generous in the box, passing to Heskey who wanted too much time when he could have blasted it in himself...
Never mind, Rooney took a nice half-volley on the canter and bagged himself a goal anyway... 3 -0 to England.
Ashley Cole wastes a chance to make it four in the closing seconds, cutting inside and dragging it wide with his less-favoured right foot.
In conclusion, it was probably a useful exercise, but everyone is relieved not to see any dramatic injuries - the start showed a lot of the pace that Capello has been promising us, but we are still left wondering what the line-up will be on Saturday. Crouch, Defoe and Gerrard combined in the first half with back-up from Joe Cole Wright-Phillips and Lampard- Rooney, Joe Cole and Heskey with Lennon and Milner in support were on show in the second half. I think Joe Cole was the only player to remain on the pitch throughout the match - I guess Capello feels he needs the game time.

England 2 Japan 1

On the road to South Africa, England take on Japan in their high altitude camp in Austria.
England started the first half with a look of a team that could put pressure on the Japanese, only to be stunned by a goal scored by Tulio from a corner after just 6 minutes. Japan had a second chance on goal just three minutes later as England resumed their habitual nervy look in defence. The one exciting moment of the half for England fans was Rooney putting the ball on a plate for Lennon (playing on the left), who failed to beat the keeper with his left foot.
Whatever England tried, Japan were there waiting for them hassling them off the ball and foiling every plan - in fairness there was very little invention from a ponderous England side. On 30 minutes, Bent got on the end of a lofted ball from Ferdinand, but headed wide, a little later Rooney improvised a back-heel from a Huddlestone shot that narrowly missed the target - these were brief glimpses of hope in a very disappointing half that finished with a one-goal advantage to Japan.
There were five changes and a new shape from England for the second half and just two minutes in saw the first attempt on goal from Gerrard. Ten minutes later Wright-Phillips scampered down the left hand side riding three tackles passing to Lampard who was brought down for a free kick. The kick gave England a penalty as not one but two players in the defensive wall handled the ball. Lampard took the spot-kick which was saved by the Japanese reserve keeper.
The frustration was visible as Rooney began to lose his self-control a little. Gerrard put a ball through the middle for Rooney leaving him one-on-one with the keeper, but the flag was up (mistakenly) for offside. Good shot from distance from Rooney on 63 mins, but not far enough away from the keeper. A few minutes later, Hart made a vital instinctive save which kept England in the game. More good work from Rooney as his next shot is parried away on 68 mins, but it was Joe Cole's cross from the right on 71 minutes that ended up in the net courtesy of Tulio's head. Just 10 minutes later, an Ashley Cole cross was again turned into the net by another Japanese player. Heskey also spurned a chance to get on the score sheet in the final minutes from a nicely whipped cross from Gerrard.
2-1 without an England player adding to his goal tally is fairly extraordinary, but this is a game where Frank Lampard missed a penalty, and Rooney had a bad off-side against him which would surely have otherwise resulted in an England goal.
This was one of those bad dress rehearsals that will hopefully lead to a decent performance at the World Cup - one more warm-up to go before meeting the USA - the 23 player final squad gets announced on Tuesday.

England 3 Mexico 1

Beckham watches from the stands as a new look England side takes the field to see if they can make an impact on a Mexico side who should be able to hold their own against most of the rest of the world. A shaky start saw neither team dominating, but Ledley King scored after 16 minutes from a set-piece which should have settled England down, but they failed to really get a grip on the game. King's second goal in an England shirt came from a corner knocked down by Crouch and headed in leaving the 'keeper no chance.
Rob Green showed real class in goal for England with a couple of excellent saves to keep them ahead in the game. Crouch bundled in a goal from a Rooney header that struck the bar on 34 minutes which should have settled England down a little, but they still remained edgy giving silly chances away at the back. It was on the very final stroke of the half that Mexico themselves managed to bundle the ball through the legs of Leighton Baines to pull one back. 2-1 going into the break.
Glen Johnson settled nerves 90 seconds after the re-start by scoring a cracker coming inside on his left foot and placing the ball right in the far corner. This had the desired affect and England looked more comfortable in the second half. As Gerrard was forced off the ball on 65 mins, the crowd began to warm up and the whole atmosphere became much more like a proper World Cup match. Milner rolled the resulting free-kick to Gerrard who narrowly missed the target.
England continued to push and to soak up the pressure from Mexico, looking more assured at the back in the second half.
The performance was reminiscent of England's qualifying campaign - guaranteed to score plenty of goals, but also guaranteed to let the opposition get behind their defence - only a truly World Class goalie need apply for this job...
Nevertheless, this type of performance should get us through the group stages, against the big boys, a plan B may be required... Japan next, then a game against local opposition in South Africa will prepare the team just 5 days before they meet the USA for the first game of the 2010 World Cup.

England 3 Egypt 1

England hosted the Africa of Nations champions in front of a crowd of 80,000 at Wembley as part of their preparation for the fast-approaching World Cup. Beckham started on the bench and stayed there for the duration of the game which turned out to be a game of two halves.
England started brightly enough but allowed Egypt too much possession in the first half. After spurning a couple of good chances (Lampard and Defoe) in front of goal, England allowed Egypt one chance which they gratefully took.. England left the field at half time a goal down and it was a changed team that resumed after the break. Carrick and Crouch joined the fray and immediately settled down to business, Crouch using his feet to good effect for a goal on 56 minutes, leveling the game at last. England pressed and started to take control of the match. Milner came on and had a shot which stung the keepers hands on 74 minutes, Wright-Phillips collected the rebound and spun it into the net for Englands second goal. Crouch wasn't finished though, and scored again on 79 minutes to give England a two-goal cushion at 3-1. The replay showed that Crouch was offside, but the officials did not call it. England finished strongly and eventually showed the sort of quality we have come to expect since the excellent record during the qualification stages. Notably even during the triumphant performances of World Cup qualification, England were rarely able to keep a clean sheet, but once again showed that they are a team who are likely to score a hat-full of goals every time they get the bit between their teeth.

Brazil 1 England 0

A make-shift England side met the best side in the world in Qatar, and did not fold under the pressure. For the first half, an England side with only about three or four first choice players, held the Brazilians off and created some chances although the service to Bent up front was not good enough to seriously trouble the Cesar in the Brazilian goal. At the other end of the pitch, Ben Foster was under a little more pressure.

The second-half brought an early goal when Elano fed Nilmar a ball that cut out the defence and left him to head the ball neatly over Foster's head. Not long after the goal, Nilmar had picked up a bad chested back-pass from Wes Brown when his path was blocked by a flailing Foster. Foster was booked, but could easily have been dismissed (and surely would have been had the game not been a friendly). Bewilderingly, Luis Fabiano missed the resulting penalty and despite several other efforts on goal, the score remained 1-0 to the end.

Although not the score-line Capello would have wanted, nonetheless a fairly positive result considering the England players that were missing, also considering the heat and conditions on the day and, not forgetting the quaility of the opposition...
For the record, the main players missing for England includes:
Lampard
Gerrard
Terry
Glen Johnson
Ashley Cole
Joe Cole
David James
and of course David Beckham who was part of the winning LA Galaxy side which played just less than 12 hours before the England game.

Holland 2 England 2

This was to be the most testing opposition that England had faced for some time, Holland being ranked 3rd in current world rankings. Beckham would be under the spotlight as would Green in the England goal and Rooney up front.
The presence of Holland's front men had England struggling as Robben proved to have the pace to out-run just about anybody on the pitch. Robben's fellow front men Dirk Kuyt and Van Persie looked likely to be a threat to anyone's unbeaten record and a shaky England succumbed twice in the first half through school-boy errors from the normally solid Ferdinand and Barry. England had their chances but must have been gutted at half-time to go into the tunnel trailing a good side almost entirely through their own fault. Beckham had a good half and was able to distribute from centre midfield as well as adding his weight to the defence when required, he did not return for the second half, but Capello must have been pleased with what he saw from his most capped player.
Both teams took the opportunity to experiment and England must have been somewhat relieved to see Robben substituted for the second half. Cappello took the chance to bring on Defoe, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Carrick for Emile Heskey, Beckham and Barry. It took four minutes for Defoe to get his name on the score sheet as Lampard sent a hopeful long ball up the field leaving Defoe one-on-one with the keeper. Under pressure from fast-retreating defenders, Defoe expertly curled the ball around the keeper with his left foot to drag the score back to 2-1. In the same half Capello brought on Milner (for Ashley Young) and Carlton Cole (for Rooney). Cole had a number of opportunities and looked like a likely prospect for the future showing good control and ability to hold the ball as well as strength and shooting ability. As England established a hold over the game, it was Defoe again who scored to level the score at 2-2. Milner bravely headed the ball off the foot of Heitinga giving himself acres of space in which to cross from the left. He sent the ball scudding along the goal line for Defoe to slide onto for a tap-in, closely followed by Wright-Phillips who would certainly have converted if Defoe weren't there.
The remaining 13 minutes were tense especially when Holland had a free kick right outside the box in the closing minutes, but the game ended honours even and England should really be kicking themselves that they didn't stay a little tighter at the back and end up with an impressive victory.
The game taught us that the tendency for England to make silly mistakes at the back has not gone away, that Robert Green is a good keeper, that Beckham is still worth his weight and England still have strikers that could have an impact on the World Cup stage next year.

Al Sadd 1 Milan 2

Milan have taken part in a friendly against Al Sadd in Doha. Once again Beckham was in the starting line up, but only played the first half.
Pato scored first for Milan after 27 minutes and ten minutes later the home side equalised. Almost immediately Milan responded to re-establish their lead and the game finished 2 -1 to Milan.
Speaking before the game, Beckham reiterated his desire to stay in Milan beyond next week when he is due to return to LA:

"I have already expressed that I want to stay here, negotiations are still going on and hopefully it will be sorted out in the next few days and I can carry on playing my football in AC Milan."

Rangers 2 AC Milan 2

The first half failed to see either team establish a real hold on this game. Milan looked good going forward with Beckham appearing in the middle of the park as often as on the right hand side. Ronaldinho started this time along with Flamini, Schevchenko and Inzaghi up front.
At one point half-way through the half Ronaldinho was fouled in a perfect Beckham freekick position, but immediately made a grab for the ball. He took the subsequent kick, had the keeper beat, but not the goal-post.
In all, you would have to say that Milan were favourite to score, but Rangers showed that they were dangerous on the break particularly with ex-Portsmouth player Pedro Medez leading the way.
In one sense the game was living up to expectations, with two Milan players be-gloved (Ronaldinho and Inzaghi) as against one Rangers player... (my prediction was a ratio of 2;1)
In the second half Seedorf came on to replace Beckham, so there was no chance of seeing Beckham adding to his tally of goals or assists.
In fact it was DeMarcus Beasley who scored first for Rangers on 64 minutes squeezing through the defence on his own and scrambling the ball past the Milan keeper. It was only five mintes later that Kaka and Pato combined to slot the ball home at the opposite end of the pitch levelling the match once more. Less than ten minutes later and Kaka added a second for Milan, giving them the lead for the first time in the match. Just three minutes later Rangers levelled again through Papac leaving little more than 12 minutes left for the superstars from Milan to regain the initiative.
It finished honours even 2-2, with neither team disgraced or embarrased, you always felt that Milan had the firepower to take the game, yet Rangers were not without threat and showed that they are not minnows to the giants of Milan.

Germany 1 England 2

This game was always going to show a different side of England with all the absentees through injury. No Rooney, Lampard, Cole (either Joe or Ashley), Ferdinand, Brown, Owen or Gerard, and no Beckham because he is not playing regular first team football. Often these injury-strewn teams allow some new talent to show and the front pairing of Agbonlahor and Defoe promised to be interesting. To be fair Germany also had their fair share of walking wounded.
It was a night for newcomers to make their mark and it was Matthew Upson that scored the first goal after 23 minutes from Downing's corner. Downing himself almost added another right at the end of the first half with a rasping left foot shot which Adler, the German keeper threw himself at, Wright-Phillips missed the rebound.
The first half was reasonably even-handed with England displaying some of the dominance in possession that they displayed in some of the qualifying games, but not to a very great extent. Germany had their moments and looked dangerous from set-pieces missing a couple of headers which could easily have evened up the score.

Both teams changed 'keepers for the second half, David James giving way to West Brom's Scott Carson, who will be keen to forget his part in the England team's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
Darren Bent replaces Defoe up front and Germany change three of their outfield players. Germany came out strong for the second half and it wasn't until about 15 minutes into the half that England got a golden chance as Bent took the ball around the keeper, but lost his footing and didn't connect with the shot properly. Germany immediately punished England when a mix-up between Terry and Carson saw the ball trickle through Carson's legs and a German striker had the ball goal side of keeper and defender and only had to slide it into an open net. This sparked some fire back into the game with was otherwise becoming fairly dull. Marin had a good effort parried away by Carson on the 75th minute amending a little for the earlier error, which to be fair was as much Terry's error unless Carson called for the ball. Shortly after that Ashley Young came on for Agbonlahor who, like the England team as a whole, had not been as busy in the second half. A nice move through the middle on 78 minutes saw Wright-Phillips stinging the post as the German keeper got finger-tips to his shot.
It was John Terry who rescued England on 85 mins, making up for his part in the earlier defensive error. He was fed from a Downing free kick, rising above a close-marking defender to head across goal, the ball nestling in the far corner whilst the keeper helplessly gesticulated his complaints..
On 90 minutes Peter Crouch replaced Shaun Wright-Phillips as the game fizzled out without Crouch touching the ball - five wins on the trot for Capello's England.
Overall it was not the sublimely dominant performance we have almost come to expect recently, but then it never was going to be against Germany with so many key players missing. It is always pleasing to beat Germany and to grind out a result anywhere shows great character. Ground out and laboured it was though, not a pretty game - not one to watch again...

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.

Beckham claims 100 caps as England lose to France

Beckham and England started brightly and had plenty of attacking action at the start of the game, but seemingly lacked finishing power. Once again you have to wonder if Wayne Rooney should really be left in a lone striker role rather than having a strike partner close at hand. Beckham himself came close as he came sliding in to try to meet a ball zipping across the French box.
The French team looked comfortable on the ball and were able to gain the advantage when Anelka was brought down by 'keeper David James after a slide-rule pass cut out the English defence leaving James stranded. Ribery converted the penalty and France were 1-0 up. The score remained at 1-0 and England never really looked liked scoring as their performance deteriorated from that hopeful start. Beckham dropped back through the field and was often found behind Wes Brown on the right wing, finally being substituted after an hour. He was replaced by his natural successor David Bentley who also failed to make a significant impact.
The feeling is that Beckham will have a place in the squad for the World Cup qualifiers, he was certainly not over-shadowed by any other England players who failed to shine as a team. This was a disappointing outcome to all the speculation about whether the 100th cap would come. Now that particular sideshow is out of the way, perhaps we can get on with the football...

No score in FC Dallas v LA Galaxy match

Last MLS season, the FC Dallas faithful were robbed of the chance to see David Beckham when he was ruled out of the SuperLiga match because of injury. 20,000 turned out the see the re-match played out for charity. Amongst those in the crowd was England's assistant coach, Franco Baldini. (Capello himself was otherwise engaged watching Portsmouth with Ray Clemence this weekend - and as a result, must have been impressed with David James's performance in goal.)
The crowd seemingly enjoyed the spectacle at the Dallas Pizza Hut Park even though no goals were scored, and especially enjoyed Beckham being booked for dissent late in the match. It is evident that Beckham is trying hard, some might say TOO hard lately, and he will need to be careful that he doesn't overstep the mark if he wants to gain a place in the England squad. He learned how to 'roll with it' after being sent off against Argentina in the World Cup all those years ago - hopefully the hot-headed behaviour will not become a feature of Beckhams game when his fitness is in decline.

The Galaxy beaten on penalties

Beckham shrugs off his dead-leg injury from the game against Shanghai Hong Kong, to play a full 90 minutes against Hong Kong Union. The score standing at 1-1, in the closing seconds of normal time, Hong Kong sneak ahead with a penalty for hand-ball. Looking like the game is secure, injury time is played out only for Hong Kong to concede a penalty after three minutes.
Beckham steps up and strokes the ball home (he was the only Galaxy player to score in their last penalty shoot-out a week ago against FC Seoul). Penalties again, this time The Galaxy make a better show of it (Beckham scores again...) and they only lose 5-4 this time...
The Galaxy have not rocked the world on their world tour, but manger Ruud Gullit has had the chance to test out the new blood in the squad and ascertain that their star player is as fit as he needs to be for the start of the MLS. All set for Dallas then and Beckham's chance to show that he is fit enough to play for Engand.

Asia update, Capello to travel to US?

After losing a game to FC Seoul, Galaxy redeemed themselves with a resounding 3-0 defeat of Shanghai-Hong Kong yesterday.
Beckham set up the first goal, but gave his team a scare by limping off after 70 minutes with a thigh injury. It turned out to be dead-leg rather than a more serious lasting injury. There should be little danger of his not being ready to take part in the last game of the Asian mini-tour against Hong Kong Union on Sunday.

The good news is that Capello is prepared to seriously consider Beckham for the upcoming England International friendlies against France and possibly the USA. Plans are being made for either Capello himself or Franco Baldini to visit Dallas to see him play and assess his fitness on March 14th. Capello has also been heard to express the view that he personally hopes Beckham can reach the 100 cap goal and has declared that he is in contention for a place in the squad for the game in France.