Major League Soccer - Beckham hits double.
LA Galaxy remain on inconsistent form, but David Beckham's stock in America is on the rise after two stunning goals earned him the MLS Player of the Week award and his side a point in a remarkable recovery from two goals behind at Real Salt Lake over the weekend. Ruud Gullitt's team had won two and lost three of the opening five games of the 2008 campaign and it looked like they were going to waste the momentum they built up during last weeks 5-2 thrashing of FC Chivas as they fell behind early on at Salt Lake.
Exposing their opponents clear defensive frailties, Salt Lake started the brighter and raced into a two goal lead inside the opening eighteen minutes. Argentine striker Fabian Espindola hit the first, knocking home a great first-time shot from Javier Morales long ball into the box seven minutes in, before former Gretna forward Kenny Duechar grabbed the second shortly after, planting an unstoppable header into the top right hand corner of the net from another Morales assist.
Galaxy were being thoroughly outplayed, but against the run of play, Beckham forced them back into the match. The England star received the ball on the far right of the area and he curled a stunner into the top corner to make it 2-1 nine minutes from the break. Shortly after, Becks weaved his magic again, this time with a trademark free-kick which flew into the top corner and drew the game level at 2-2, and thanks to the fact Deucher had a good goal wrongly disallowed for offside in the second half, Galaxy held on to a point.
Beckham two goals were enough to hand him his second Player of the Week award of the season , and two slots in the Goal of the Weekend nominations list, and his team-mates and manager were full of praise at the full-time whistle. "It's what great players do," said defender Chris Klein. "He delivers good balls, and you have to step to him because he can strike a great ball. On the free kick, everyone knows what he can do there. We're going to need a few of those this year, and he's been known to provide them. I think this is a tip of what he can do, and what everyone has been waiting to see."
