Galaxy, Beckham Fall to Seoul
Mar. 01, 2008
David Beckham was in good form-the best form since he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy, in his own assessment-but the Galaxy failed miserably in penalty kicks and lost 2-1 to FC Seoul in a preseason friendly in
South Korea
.
"We were disappointed to lose on penalties but penalties are like that - there has to be a winner and a loser," Beckham said. "The overall play of the team in the first 30 minutes was good, some of the best football I've played with the Galaxy."
Compared to the Galaxy's sluggish performance at the Pan-Pacific Championship last week, Ruud Gullit's side came out with some energy. Beckham was the focus, cheered on by the 35,000 or so fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
In the 20th minute, Beckham swerved a freekick into the area and Alan Gordon calmly finished to give the Galaxy a lead. Ten minutes later,
Seoul
equalized through Jung Jo-Gook, who slotted home a penalty.
After the break, the game lost its air and both teams seemed content simply to play regulation time out. In penalties,
Seoul
's Kim Ho-jun saved four of the Galaxy's five shots to give his side the win. Only Beckham scored his spotkick.
Gullit, who, since taking over the Galaxy, has been unafraid to criticize or to praise his players, had mixed feelings about the result.
"I am happy with the way we played but there is still a lot of work to do for us," he said after the game. "I am happy with certain parts but not with others. The good thing is that we created chances and the players are there. It is a question of concentration. As long as we are creating chances then I am happy. I am going to get worried if we don't create at all."
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The Galaxy opened their stadium, the Home Depot Center on June 7. But in order for their home to be ready, the team had to play a record 8 games to start the season and failed to win a game. In fact, the Galaxy finish the season without a win away from home the whole season. After the season's final game, the Galaxy had the final playoff spot in the West. In their aggregate series with the Earthquakes, they seemed well on to vindication for the MLS Cup loss 2 years earlier as they held 4 goals to 0 lead midway through the 2 nd game. A thing happened as the Earthquakes scored four unanswered goals to force a tiebreaker. In that session, the Earthquakes' Rodrigo Farina score to send the Quakes onto the next round.
In 2004 Looking to return to the top, the Galaxy would go through a mediocre 1 st half of the season before 3 straight wins over the summer. But from July 14 on, the Galaxy won only 2 more games, one in September and one in October. The Galaxy had a record of 11-9-10, good enough for 2nd in the West and the playoff, remaining the only club in MLS to have a playoff spot in every year of league in the playoffs, the Galaxy withstood an early challenge from the Rapids to win the aggregate goal series, 2-1, scoring 2 times in Game 2. In the conference final, the Galaxy's season would come to an end in Kansas with a 2-0 loss to Arnaud and the Wizards.
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