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Galaxy-Wizards Preview

Jul 24, 2009 - 8:16 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (6-3-9) at Kansas City (5-6-5), 9:00 p.m. EDT

David Beckham has been a magnet for controversy this season for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Quite a feat, considering he's played in just one MLS game.

Beckham tries to put all the distractions aside and help the surging Galaxy win their fifth in a row when they visit the Kansas City Wizards on Friday night.

In Sunday's 2-2 exhibition tie with AC Milan, Beckham confronted Galaxy fans after they booed and jeered him while displaying derisive banners. At halftime, Beckham walked toward the group while shouting and pointing. He challenged fans to meet him on the field and tried to lift himself over advertising boards before security intervened. Police arrested a fan who left the stands.

While Beckham seemed to agitate the fans, he didn't feel like he was to blame for the incident.

"It's not a setback for myself. It's other people that have to change," Beckham said Thursday after practice. "It's not about whether I can move on. I wasn't the one booing."

MLS disagreed, fining the midfielder $1,000 on Friday.

"We support our players interacting with fans, whether it is at clinics, charity events or by high-fiving their supporters in the stands while celebrating a goal," league commissioner Don Garber said. "However, our players should never engage in conduct that can be interpreted as encouraging fans to come out of the stands and onto the field, regardless of the reason."

Galaxy fans have been angry about Beckham's publicly stated desire to stay with AC Milan beyond March, the original end of his loan.

The fans haven't been the only ones to criticize the star.

In a recently released book, Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan accused Beckham of not giving his full effort and allegedly quitting on Los Angeles (6-3-9) in the late stages of a disappointing 2008 season.

The two made up before Beckham played in his first league game, a 3-1 Galaxy victory over New York on July 16 that extended the team's winning streak to four. This is the club's longest run since taking five in a row Sept. 23-Oct. 13, 2007.

Donovan, selected to play for the MLS All-Star team in Wednesday's game against Everton FC of the English Premier League, had a goal and an assist against the Red Bulls. He has been involved in 12 of the Galaxy's 22 goals this season (seven goals, five assists).

Donovan has one goal and two assists in three games against the Wizards (5-6-5) since the start of last season, with Los Angeles going 1-1-1 in those contests.

Kansas City hasn't played since a scoreless tie with New England on July 11. The Wizards didn't score in their last two games after tallying a season-high three goals in a win over the Revolution on June 13.

Kansas City had plenty of opportunities their last time out with 16 shots, but New England's Matt Reis made a career-high 11 saves.

"We've having problems putting balls into the back of the net over the last couple of weeks," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo told the league's official Web site. "The positive is that we're creating chances, the negative is that we're not putting them away."

It may not get any easier against a Los Angeles club that has yielded one goal during its winning streak.

The last time these teams met May 30, the Wizards were held scoreless until first-time All-Star Davy Arnaud scored in the 84th minute. Three minutes later, Galaxy forward Edson Buddle answered with a goal off an assist from Donovan and the game ended in a 1-all tie.