Yes he can bend it!

In his first start for the Galaxy Beckham nails his patented free kick!



This blogger was happy to be at the game, in the cheap seats, behind the goal...here are a couple of pics.

The Action at HDC

Lining up for Goal scoring free kick

Second Half freekick that was saved

The Galaxy beat DC United 2-0 to move on to the finals of the SuperLiga against the Mexican team Pachuca who earlier had beaten FC Dallas on penalties. The final will be held Wednesday, August 29 at 7 p.m. PT at Home Depot Center. Look here for tickets

http://www.mlsnet.com/t106/tickets/

Overall I felt the game had a bit more speed and skill than games I have seen before at Home Depot. There was a buzz in the air for the 18,000 some crowd. Though nowhere near capacity it was an impressive turn out for a Wednesday night game for a non-regular season match.

The Galaxy as a team still has far to go to play as a unit and to get used to expecting and handling some of the sublime passing displayed by Beckham. They are a team with some good talent, but I think it will be next year before we see any real return on it. Beckham came on to the field wearing the captains' armband and his leadership skills were never in doubt.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=453684&root=mls&cc=5901

In the mean time it was nice too be part of a special night and to actually see a Beckham's free kick in person.

Beckham is big news even as Galaxy continue to suck

David Beckham finally made his competitive match MLS debut for the LA Galaxy in a 1-0 loss to DC United.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=215310&cc=5901

The Galaxy are in second to last in the MLS Western Division with 6 games in hand. If they were to magically to win all 6 they would be in 2nd place based on current standing. Of course none of this really matters to anyone but a die-hard LA Galaxy fan (not that there is such a thing in the City of Angels for any sport) .

The real story is Beckham. He's plastered on billboards and is the top story on most of the top sports networks. At the end of the day the MLS, ESPN and the Galaxy are just business out to make a buck and they have been making millions of them on name of Sir Beckham (no he's not a knight...yet).

http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=22565

It really is a shame, because people do forget that behind all the flash and marketing hoopla is a hard working and solid midfield player, probably the best right foot in the world, and a man who truly does love being out on the field and playing the game the best he can. Also let's not forget about the MLS a league that has slowly but surely grown and prospered over the last 10 years. It will never be the NFL or NBA, but there are plenty of fans and passerbys to go around to keep things on the rise and with players of Beckham's, Miguel Angel's (New England) and Blanco's (Chicago) caliber coming to the leauge this can only be good news for our young players and for fans alike.

All that being said the MLS is still a little ways off from a top flight world league so do try to catch the opening of the Barclays English Premire League (BPL) season debuting on Fox Soccer Channel this weekend!

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/920998

LA Galaxy - SuperLiga Action

Nice to see some good soccer action in Southern California. Are the Galaxy any good? Compare to the premiere European clubs? Not really, but are they watchable? Yes. Hopefully David Beckham will bring some additional attention to this support. Otherwise, ESPN will resort to showing every Barry Bonds at-bat for the next month.