Carson (California) Aug 24: The globe-trotting David Beckham was unable to prevent Los Angeles Galaxy from losing their Major League Soccer (MLS) match 3-0 to Chivas USA on Thursday.

A day after playing the full 90 minutes for England in a 2-1 friendly defeat by Germany in London, Beckham was on the pitch throughout as the Galaxy slipped to their ninth defeat in 17 MLS games, yesterday.

Chivas striker Maykel Galindo opened the scoring in the 59th minute, sliding the ball past Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon after pouncing on a defensive blunder by Kyle Veris.

Ten minutes later, defender Francisco Mendoza set up Galindo for his second goal, and 10th of the season, with a pinpoint pass that split the Galaxy defence from the right.

Mendoza made it 3-0 with a perfectly weighted left-footed shot in the 88th minute, with Cannon stranded, to put the gloss on Chivas's 10th win of their MLS campaign.

Despite the return from injury of experienced Portuguese defender Abel Xavier, the Galaxy came under continual pressure from a spirited Chivas attack, especially in the opening half.

Galindo found space in the penalty area in the 10th minute but his right-footed blast was parried away by Galaxy keeper Cannon.

GOOD SAVE

With the Galaxy defence struggling to maintain structure, Cannon made another good save in the 26th minute, diving forward to block a close-range shot by striker Ante Razov.

The Galaxy were fortunate not to concede a penalty in the 31st minute when Xavier, tackling back, brought Francisco Mendoza down in the area.

Beckham took his first free kick in the 37th minute but it was dealt with adequately by the Chivas defence.

One minute later, the former England captain unleashed a superb corner kick from the left which found defender Kyke Veris lurking on the right but he sent his diving header wide.

The opening half ended with a fracas on the pitch and Galaxy midfielder Kevin Harmse and Chivas defender Alex Zotinca were shown red cards.

Harmse was head-butted by Zotinca in return for a punch to the stomach, a clash sparked when Beckham squared up to Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch after being the victim of a mistimed tackle.

The Galaxy, who have won only three MLS games this season, remain second bottom in the Western standings. Chivas stay in third spot, four points behind the pacesetting Houston Dynamo.

Reuters
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