“It has begun,” says Grahame L. Jones of the L.A. Times. The Home Depot Center’s new life, that is. Never mind that the Galaxy lost last night’s home opener, little signs of David Beckham’s pending arrival were evident all around the stadium, says Jones. For instance, there’s a brand-new VIP entrance for David’s celebrity friends, with a convenient limousine drop-off point and, of course, a long red carpet. There were also some new faces in the press box, Jones says, a reporter from the Times of London and another from Hamburg’s Bild and the Dutch paper Voetbal Magazine. No Becks, of course — he’s back in Madrid training with his teammates for this weekend’s crucial away match at Racing Santander.
Unfortunately for the Galaxy, the buzz will continue to outweigh the team’s results until the main man arrives. One wonders if Becks was able to see last night’s 2-1 loss to FC Dallas-the Galaxy’s first loss to the Hoops in 16 straight home games. It wasn’t a horrible performance from L.A., but as ESPN commentator Eric Wynalda pointed out repeatedly, the crossing-from Landon Donovan in particular-was pretty poor. Good thing that that’s Beckham’s specialty.
“Effort-wise, I can’t fault them,” L.A. Coach Frank Yallop told reporters, though he admitted the execution wasn’t there. “We were disjointed…but in general play I think we had enough chances to score at least two goals. I take nothing away from Dallas. They did a good job of containing the game in the end.”