BECKHAM PLAYS FULL 90 MINUTES IN PAN-PACIFIC FRIENDLY
Thursday, February 21, 2008
David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy were beaten 1-0 by Gamba Osaka in Hawaii as they continue their preparations for the new Major League Soccer season.
Brazilian striker Bare scored the only goal for the Japanese side after three minutes of the semi-final at the inaugural Pan Pacific Championship.
Beckham squared up to Lucas following a strong challenge in the second half but otherwise the England midfielder made little impact on the match at the Aloha Stadium.
The Galaxy's next match will be on Saturday when they face the loser of the other semi-final between Houston Dynamo and Sydney FC.
Beckham was left ruing the Galaxy's poor start and their failure to capitalise on second-half chances.
'Obviously it's always disappointing when you lose the game, when you don't start off the game well and properly, then that happens,' he said.
'They capitalised on that first breakthrough, but we got back towards the end of the first half and we had a few chances.
'The second half was a lot better, we started playing football, we started playing with confidence and we created chances. But you don't get anything unless you put them away.'
Galaxy boss Ruud Gullit felt his side were hampered by a lack of preparation having arrived in Hawaii only two days ago.
He said: 'In the beginning we had to adapt a lot to the pitch, we didn't train on the pitch at all. It took us a little bit of time to adjust.'
