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Beckham sits as Galaxy lose to Revolution

Aug 13, 2007 - 2:42 AM By Ian Parker Special to PA SportsTicker

FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) - David Beckham cut a forlorn figure on the sidelines as the Los Angeles Galaxy dropped a 1-0 verdict to the New England Revolution on Sunday night.

Beckham did not even make the substitutes list for the game, and Galaxy coach Frank Yallop revealed that his ankle had responded poorly to playing 21 minutes against D.C. United on Thursday.

"We spoke to the physio this morning with David and he felt it flare up after Thursday's game," Yallop said. "The ankle was sore on Friday. He felt that he didn't want to risk it so we decided not to play him.

"We're hoping that having a day off today will make it better for Wednesday (and the SuperLiga game against D.C. United), so we'll see. We are flying again tonight and hopefully by Tuesday morning he'll feel a lot better. The day off today helped him. It is sore. We tried our best to get him back as soon as possible but we've got to make sure it's not done at the wrong time.

With Beckham out of the game, the Revolution took it upon themselves to entertain the sellout crowd of 35,402.

Beckham, whose 21-minute appearance at DC United on Thursday may have set him back some, could only watch as Taylor Twellman scored the decisive goal in the 55th minute. Twellman needed plenty of chances but luckily for him, the Galaxy defense was in a mood to provide them.

Twellman could have had a hat trick inside the first 15 minutes.

The Galaxy's injury bug had also bitten defender Abel Xavier, and his backup Ty Harden was embarrassed by Twellman. Barely five minutes had passed when he struck the post when stretching to meet Pat Noonan's cross.

He then sent a bullet header just wide before getting free of Harden and pulling a shot narrowly off-target.

The breakthrough finally came 10 minutes into the second half, when Twellman again got clear of Harden to meet a deflected pass, and he turned to tuck the ball under goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

"I was just fortunate to get on the end of a loose ball and saw two guys slide. This one I just wanted to make sure I hit it on goal and fortunately it went in," Twellman said of the goal.

"That first half was easily our best half of soccer we've played this year. Obviously, we rebounded well (from last Sunday's 3-0 loss to D.C.). You need those games (like last Sunday) every once in a while."

Matt Reis made two late saves to deny Gavin Glinton and sum up a disappointing evening for the Galaxy.

"I think we totally deserved to win," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "We had should have had it wrapped up by halftime. We had three great chances that we should have done better with.

"We're not interested in the lineups of the other team," Nicol added when asked about Beckham's absence. "We're just interested in ourselves."

With both Beckham and Xavier joining a lengthy injury list, Yallop was only able to name six substitutes for the game.

"I thought that in the second half we could have gotten something out of the game. We had some good chances," Yallop said. "We've got a few lads watching the game from upstairs. I thought the lads who came in did a good job. We've got a few knocked up but I'm not interested in making excuses.

"We can only keep going, keep trying the right things."