FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - With the focus on David Beckham's debut on Thursday night and his troublesome left ankle, the Los Angeles Galaxy's 1-0 defeat to D.C. United might have slipped underneath the radar to some who focus more on Beckham and less on the soccer.
But don't count Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop among those who discount the results on the field, especially as his team sits 12 points behind eighth-placed Columbus in the race for the final place in the MLS Cup Playoffs with five matches in hand on the Crew.
"Our display was OK in spurts in D.C.," Yallop said Saturday, as his club prepares to take on the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. "This is another game that's important to us."
While the Galaxy have played only 14 contests when most teams in the league have contested 18 or 19, Galaxy captain Landon Donovan knows that his team needs to start producing points.
"We like to think we have a lot of time, but the reality is that we need to start getting some points," Donovan said.
Performances are just as important as points at this juncture for the Galaxy and part of the solution is Beckham's ailing left ankle. The English midfielder said that he was not "100 percent sure" to feature in Sunday's contest after his ankle swelled after he made his debut in D.C. on Thursday night.
Donovan knows that while Beckham might not feature or could find his role limited to a cameo off the bench in the waning minutes, the Galaxy need to find a way to get him on the field in a position in which he can succeed. Beckham was effective on Thursday night, but the Galaxy were left to wonder what could have been as the team was down to 10 men after Kyle Martino's 67th-minute ejection.
"We want to get him on the field in a more comfortable situation," Donovan said. "People can see that he's going to help us."
Los Angeles is a team in need of some help as the team struggles with weariness and injury. Martino is ruled out of Sunday's contest through suspension, while Troy Roberts (ankle), Chris Albright (hamstring), and Cobi Jones (hip) are ruled out through injury. Edson Buddle is questionable with a left Achilles injury.
One player who will feature from the start, according to Yallop, is striker Carlos Pavon. Pavon was suffering from flu-like symptoms earlier in the week and played the last 13 minutes on Thursday night, but Yallop said that he was in line to start on Sunday.
"Carlos has been under the weather," Yallop said. "He'd been off the pace a bit and I'd wondered why and then I found out he was sick. He can score goals for us in this league."
While Pavon is slated to start, Yallop is less sure of the Honduran international's match fitness.
"We'll see if he can last 90 minutes for us," Yallop said. "I'm not so sure he can at this point."
Yallop has concerns for his entire squad because of the current schedule. The Galaxy was in Toronto last Sunday and remained on the East Coast through this match in Foxborough on Sunday night.
"They'll be pretty leg weary," Yallop said of his charges. "Don't tell New England though. We're not harping on it because everyone goes through stretches like that. We'll have our starting 11 out there and we'll see what happens."
Donovan hopes what happens is a team that continues to progress and gel as it attempts to claw back into the playoff picture.
"We're getting there, but we're not a finished product yet," Donovan said. "The little things aren't happening. We're getting better, but we need to start getting points."
Beckham knows that it will be difficult to claw back into the hunt and suggests that his team needs to find a way to make up ground in the playoff race.
"It's a challenge I've never faced before," Beckham said. "We're not in the ideal position at the moment. We need to look to achieve and get to the playoffs because we're a big club in MLS. If we don't achieve, we'll be criticized and rightly so."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
