LA Galaxy 0 NY Red Bulls 2

The only good thing about this game from an LA perspective is that Beckham played the full 90 minutes. He took advantage of a stoppage about 2o minutes from the end to let Bruce Arena know that he was fit enough to finish the game, indicating that he did not want to be substituted.

The Galaxy had their chances, many of then supplied by Beckham, but they could not find a way past the Red Bulls goalkeeper.

After 36 minutes, Red Bull winger Richards tapped in a rebound for the first goal, and the first half finished with Galaxy trailing by a single goal.

In the second half, Richards won a penalty when he was clearly dragged down in the box, Angel converted very coolly, and Red Bulls took their two goal lead to the end of the game. Beckham had a chance to make a real impact of 65 mi

ns when he curled a free kick towards the top corner, but the Red Bulls keeper was not letting anything past...

I wonder if the rest of the team steps off the gas a bit when Beckham is on the pitch - it is difficult to comprehend why the forwards were quite so ineffective. Donovan for one was almost anonymous, and without Donovan darting about in front of goal, The Galaxy are always going to struggle. Buddle was probably more effective, but he is a player that tends to drift in and out of a game at the best of times.

In the closing minutes, Beckham picked up another booking (the second from the only three games he has played this season) - at least he is not holding back!

Over all, if they had taken their chances this could have been a very different game, defence has never been LA's strongest suit, so when they don't take their chances up the field they are always vulnerable. That said, the Red Bulls keeper had a magnificent match, and it would have taken something special to beat him, certainly something more than Donovans final effort close the the end of the game, when in front of goal he more or less passed the ball to the keeper. Beckham did OK, he provided dangerous crosses and ambitious passes, but the bite of the team was missing - hopefully the teeth will be sharpened next time out...

LA Galaxy 2 DC United 1

LA started Saturdays game in unconvincing style allowing DC plenty of chances, even reliable Donovan Ricketts in goal almost gifted the visitors, allowing the ball to squirt under his body before twisting to trap it on the line. With the score still at 0-0, Beckham took the field at 53 mins allowing him to build up his fitness.

A comedy of errors in the box allowed DC to steal a goal on the hour mark, but Beckhams contribution seemed to wake up LA and with just 10 minutes to go, Donovan managed to pounce on a loose ball at the back, skipped round the keeper and levelled the score. Five minutes later Bowen sent the ball across the box for Donovan to head home for the final score of the match which ended 2-1 extending LA's lead of the Western Conference:

Western Conference v • d • e
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Los Angeles Galaxy	50	25	15	5	5	38	19	+19
2	Real Salt Lake	47	25	13	4	8	38	16	+22
3	FC Dallas	42	24	10	2	12	31	19	+12
4	Colorado Rapids	37	24	10	7	7	32	24	+8
5	San Jose Earthquakes	36	23	10	7	6	25	23	+2
6	Seattle Sounders FC	36	25	10	9	6	30	29	+1
7	Chivas USA	25	23	7	12	4	25	29	−4
8	Houston Dynamo	23	24	6	13	5	29	40	−11

Next game Friday...

Beckham is back!

Coming on the for the last twenty minutes, Beckham took the field in the Galaxy's 3-1 victory over Columbus Crew. His entry to the field was greeted with enthusiasm by the crowd, and only four minutes later, he was in the referees book for a dangerous challenge.

Buddle scores after 13 minutes, Kovelenko makes it two after half an hour, Kirovski makes it three ten minutes into the second half.

Sloppy defending let Columbus Crew back in the game 6 minutes from the end 3-1 to Galaxy who look certain to go the the play-offs this season.

Switzerland 1 England 3

The same team that started at Wembley apart from the injured Dawson who was replaced by Lescott. Once more England showed their intent from the start and this time, the crowd had to wait only 10 minutes for a goal from under-pressure Wayne Rooney. The ball was cut back from the byline from Glen Johnson, Defoe and Walcott let it run to Rooney who neatly slotted it away. Walcott got his right ankle turned in the move and had to be taken off to be replaced by Adam Johnson.

England got into their domination groove and bossed the game for large portions of the first half. On 22 minutes, Defoe had a chance from an Adam Johnson cut-back, but skied the ball. This was followed by two more chances for Defoe five minutes later, the first from an Ashley Cole cross from the left flank (ball behind Defoe), the second from Milner as Defoe arrived a fraction of a second too late to get a contact.

After a brief flurry of possession from the Swiss, Rooney shoots from distance on 30 mins, but his shot loops lazily over the bar. Five minutes later, Adam Johnson inspired by his goal on Friday, takes a shot from distance, narrowly missing the target. On 42 mins, Defoe jigs left and right on the edge of the box, and shoots - it's a comfortable height for the keeper who punches away. A little later, Adam Johnson brings the ball a long way towards the goal, he looked like he might take it on his favoured left, but instead he slid it in for Rooney who couldn't find a way past the keeper - he turned and crossed for Defoe, but the little man was out-jumped by a defender.

The first half ended with England leading by Rooney's goal, looking in charge, but as we know, this team is more than capable of giving the opposition a chance to score at some point in the match. Hart had little to do, but needs to stay sharp and alert for the second half.

England start the second half well with Rooney setting up Adam Johnson for an ambitious volley which goes wide. A little later namesake Glen Johnson cuts onto his left and has a well-struck shot is pushed around the far post by the keeper. However England appear determined to let the Swiss back into the game and Hart has a nervy few minutes before Lichtsteiner takes Milner clean off the ball for a second yellow to get himself sent off. Challenges are getting harder as the Swiss try physical force to change the game and the English players reply in kind. Fouls and free-kicks are flying in and whilst Defoe limps towards the sidelines, Adam Johnson is released superbly by Gerrard and takes the ball round the keeper before scoring his second international goal in a matter of days. Defoe is stretchered off whilst England celebrate scoring two away goals. Only minutes later, 17 year old Swiss player Xherdan Shaquiri gets one back hammering the ball past Hart as Bent comes on to replace Defoe.

There is little more than 15 minutes left, the Swiss are down a goal and a player, but tails are up having just scored. It is up to England to establish control and re-establish a commanding lead. With 10 minutes to go, Wright-Phillips replaces Rooney, as England try to get a grip on the game. Wright Phillips gets a cross in from the left, the ball is left for Adam Johnson who shoots high and wide. Despite superiority in numbers, England are hanging on at this stage and failing to press home the advantage. Wright-Phillips had a chance running free on the right, but failed to get his cross to an unmarked Bent on the left for what would have been a tap-in.

Bent gets his chance on 87 minutes picking up on the left from a Wright-Phillips pass and firing home with his left, 1-3 to England. Wright-Phillips is again involved crossing for Milner who is narrowly beaten to the ball by the keeper. Right to the end, England are now pushing for more goals whilst the Swiss know the game is up.

Over-all, England have to be happy with the way they dominated the first half and the amount of chances they created, Capello is surely resting a little easier as England start to repeat their valiant efforts of their World Cup qualification run last year.

England 4 Bulgaria 0

First half:

Almost from the word go, England score through Defoe just two and a half minutes into the game at Wembley. Rooney picked up the ball outside the box taking it off Ashley Cole's feet, he chipped it perfectly back to Cole who had his shot saved, recovering, Cole passed across the box to Defoe who volleyed into the top of the net 1-0, England up and running.

That goal was the reward for the pressure exerted on the opposition right from the start, Bulgaria looked dazed for a while but England failed to really control the game in the early stages although they started to take more control after the first half hour or so. Chances came for Milner, Walcott and Defoe with little in reply from the Bulgarian team. Joe Hart looked confident between the sticks and was aware enough to gather up a mis-directed clearance from Glen Johnson.

Up front the early stages featured too many lofted passes and crosses from an English team that were never likely to dominate the air without a Crouch or Carlton Cole. Nevertheless, they made it to half time comfortably ahead by a goal - a nervous second-half could be avoided by slotting another couple of goals in, but England rarely do things the easy way!

Second Half:

The second half began in the same vein but was destined to develop much in the same way as one of Englands' recent World Cup qualifiers. Before the first five minutes were gone, Rooney attempted to chip the keeper who just managed to claw the ball over the bar. Just seven minutes later, Bulgaria narrowly missed the goal from a 'route one' move that caught the England backs napping. This was quickly followed by Dawson going down with a serious-looking knee injury, being stretchered off and replaced by Gary Cahill. Everything clicked into place on the hour mark, Hart punched away a decent effort into the path of Barry, Rooney picked up the ball distributing to Defoe inside the box who slides the ball through the legs of the keeper for two-nil.

On 74 minutes Adam Johnson comes on for Walcott who has not really delivered, a minute later Gerard delivers a shot that bounces off the keeper who manages to claw the ball away just as Defoe arrives. Five minutes later England on the break, Rooney to Adam Johnson playing on the right, who puts a well-struck shot wide of the far-side post. On 83 minutes after a few dangerous moments from Bulgaria again, Rooney again provides the ball to Adam Johnson, this time, he gets the ball inside the near-post for three-nil.

Only two minutes later, Defoe gets onto the end of a precision pass, shoots on the move with his left and scores his hat-trick, Englands' fourth of the night picking up an injury to his left ankle on the way. He is replaced by Ashley Young and England play out the game in front of a very happy England crowd, finally something to feel good about. Outstanding contributions from Rooney, Defoe and Joe Hart who looks every inch a seasoned international keeper after only his first full game. Great contributions from players like Adam Johnson, James Milner and the whole team on a night when the French revival fails at the first hurdle losing at home to Belarussia....

Beckham ready to play again...

Beckham is looking forward to playing for the LA Galaxy against Columbus Crew on 11 September.
After being given a 1 October return date, he is hoping to feature in part of the game against Columbus if progress continues positively over the next week: "I'll be on the bench and hopefully I'll get on the field for 15-20 minutes," he told the Galaxy website.

This coupled with the apparent reconsideration on the part of Capello, could bode well for a return to the international squad in the not-too-distant future.

The current squad is preparing to face Bulgaria tomorrow, but has been depleted significantly due to injury ruling out the likes of Lampard, Terry, Crouch and Lennon. Scott Carson has been released from the squad because of a family bereavement, however it is thought he may return for the following game on Tuesday in Switzerland.

Capello will consider Beckham for England

Fabio Capello seems to have reconsidered his very public 'writing off' of David Beckham after telephoning him and speaking personally. His normal stance is not to talk directly with players, but made an exception in this case. His relationship with the players has been cited as a cause of unrest, and his detached air may be an issue for the future if not resolved, but equally, players should have respect for their manager and his methods.

Capello has said that if Beckham gets fit and is playing regular football, he will consider him for the squad even though his recent emphasis has been on youth in the squad. Although it sounds like a sound policy, I would reiterate my view that as an Englishman, I am not concerned with age so much as ability to win games. There is a place for youthful exuberance in the squad, there is also a place for experience, but most of all, there should always be space for talent regardless of any other boxes that are ticked or un-ticked.

Capello has written David Beckham off twice now, for Madrid and for England. He was proven wrong in excluding him from the Madrid team, and hopefully Beckham, will get a chance to prove him wrong again.

Will Beckham play again?

Despite Capello and Allegri writing off the career of David Beckham whilst he recovers from his ankle injury, training is progressing and we can be assured that Beckham will be looking to silence the critics as soon as possible if not sooner...
In the meantime, West Ham have apparently renewed their surely hopeless quest to bring Beckham back to the Premiership, and it is even less likely that Beckham would entertain an offer from the new owners of Blackburn Rovers who are equally keen to have him on their books...

The story from LA is that Beckham has resumed normal training with his Galaxy team-mates carrying out the same routines and drills as everyone else. Far from being completely out of rehabilitation, LA coach Bruce Arena has stated that it's too early to expect to see Beckham playing competitively in the next few weeks. Nevertheless, it is clear that Beckham will be keen to get back on the pitch and demonstrate his skills, it is equally clear that it will be in Galaxy colours rather than a Premiership or England national team strip.

Rather than accept retirement on Capellos terms, it is thought that Beckham could make the proposed game between LA Galaxy and Manchester United next Summer his final game on English soil. However, talk of retirement is not really on the agenda whilst David gets himself ready to turn out to help The Galaxy get to the play-offs again - right now, LA are in a commanding position 4 points clear of Real salt Lake at the top of the Western Conference league table.

Beckham 'too old' for England

Fabio Capello appeared to end David Beckhams long international career last night when questioned about his place in the new set-up. Keen to emphasise the new blood in the England squad, Capello was seen to be agreeing with the view that Beckham is too old to win his place back in the team.

Of course, the fact that Beckham is past his very best is not in question, but it seems to me that there are two observations to be made about the Capellos comments:

• With Beckham recovering from injury, not present at the press conference and obviously not informed in advance - this was not the time or place to publicly 'retire' the most capped outfield player that England has ever had. Capello still displays a lack of tact and diplomacy, an attitude that seems to have had a telling effect on the England squad of late.
• Age seems to have been Capellos prime criteria rather than ability, this implies that a younger less-talented or gifted individual would get the nod before Beckham simply because of his age. Maybe Capello thought that saying Beckham was old was kinder than saying he wasn't playing at his best, but to be fair, no-one knows how well Beckham is going to play when he has recovered from his injury - Capellos timing is atrocious when you consider the lengths Beckham will be prepared to go to in order to serve his team and country.

Capello survived World Cup failure, and frankly, I was glad to see him retain his position - whether he will survive treating Beckham like this is another matter...

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...

No more Milan games for Beckham

AC Milan coach Massimo Allegri has hinted that there will be no third stint at Milan for Beckham as Arsenal host Milan at the Emirates stadium and hold them to a 1-1 draw - Beckham and family watched the game from the stands. Allegri suggests Beckhams injury will be difficult to come back from, yet David is aiming to come back months before originally predicted.
Rumours have been circulating that West Ham were hoping to sign him, but the Beckham camp have moved swiftly to deny and state that Beckham is happy in LA.

Beckham plots return

Bruce Arena has said that David Beckham could be back in training at the end of August. Los Angeles Galaxy are expected to take part in the play-offs again this November, but it is not yet known whether Beckham will be match-fit before the end of the season.

No doubt, he will figure on the bench and will be keen to get onto the pitch again as soon as possible.

In other news, England will be gearing up (without Beckham) for a return to Wembley to face Hungary in a friendly on Wednesday August 11th. This will form part of the build-up to the first of the European qualifiers against Bulgaria on 3rd September (also at Wembley). This will be quickly followed by an away match in Switzerland just 4 days later. There will be one more match this year (Montenegro at Wembley 12th October), and then the qualifiers resume in March 2011 against Wales (away).