Galaxy beaten by a Revolution - MSL, Beckham watch.
LA Galaxy came off second best in the battle of the division leaders on Friday evening as they were beaten 2-1 by New England Revolution. Galaxy went into this game top of the Western Standings, while New England were leading the Eastern division, but it was only the visitors who looked like champions in the first-half as they dominated proceedings and went 2-0 up thanks to a quick-fire brace shortly before half-time from Adam Cristman.
The striker came close to setting up a third as he squared the ball to Mauricio Castro, only for the forward to miss an open goal and hit the post. Inspired by their close call, Galaxy came out a stronger team in the second period and pulled one back 24 minutes from the end through a deflected Beckham effort. However, despite dominating the latter stages, the hosts couldn't find an equaliser, and are now leading the Western Standings on goal difference alone.
Beckham's goal was one of the team's first on target, and coach Ruud Gullit was frustrated by his team's poor first-half display. "If you see the first half, our biggest problem was midfield," the Dutch legend insisted. "People panic under a little bit of pressure and gave the ball away to the opposition, you get out of your rhythm. There's no need for that. We train on not to panic even if you are under pressure. In this game, it was not good in the midfield."
Beckham was also disappointed with the first half display, blaming a lack of concentration for the two goals conceded. "Sometimes you look to play passes which aren't on or you play passes to the person you think is free and they're not," he explained. "That's about mentality. It's to make sure decision-making and to keep concentration. You have to concentrate for 90 minutes because everyone knows in seconds you can lose a goal by not concentrating."
