CARSON, Calif. -- On Wednesday, David Beckham will make his first trip to Buck Shaw Stadium and the English midfielder could not have picked a more important match to play in.
After the LA Galaxy fell 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference First Leg, the Galaxy are facing a must-win on Wednesday in the second leg at Buck Shaw.
In 78 minutes of action on Sunday, Beckham shown an ability to create on the left flank against the Earthquakes, but his crosses were unable to find many dangerous areas due to the stingy Earthquakes defense. The fact that the hyper-competitive Beckham was removed after at all, led to surprise for some, but Beckham admitted after the game that his substitution was merely to keep him fresh for Wednesday's decisive second leg. But despite the efforts of Beckham and the Galaxy, a Victor Bernárdez free kick goal in stoppage time gave San Jose the victory heading into the final leg at Buck Shaw.
"It’s always disappointing, especially when you have that much possession, we had quite a few good chances and crosses, especially in the second half, we kind of pushed onto them and were kind of creating chance after chance," said Beckham on Sunday. "If you don’t put one of those away, it can always kill you at the end. I think that them getting their goal was disappointing, but we can take the positives from the chances that we created and the possession that we had."
Beckham admits that LA's frame of mind remains unchanged heading into Wednesday's all-important second leg.
"Our mindset doesn't change going into the game, whether it was nil-nil or, obviously, the result that we got," said Beckham. "We still feel that we'd always have to go to San Jose to win the game. I think that they kind of sat back and in the end, they were going for the draw and accepting that. But obviously, you get a free kick like that then there’s a chance that you're going to score Unfortunately they did, but I think that overall our defending was great throughout the whole game. It’s just tough to concede that late in the game. They've come here and beat us, there’s no reason why we can't go there and beat them. It’s going to be tough."
And what does Beckham think about his first trip to Buck Shaw?
“We'll see,” Beckham said while flashing a smile. “I'll tell you on Wednesday.”
