Galaxy’s Beckham and Donovan could play in Tempe

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If they return on time as expected, David Beckham and Landon Donovan will hardly have time to unpack before heading on the road again.

Beckham, in Italy with AC Milan, and Donovan, in Germany with Bayern Munich, are said to be coming back to Los Angeles on March 8 or 9, after their loan deals come to an end. On March 14, the Galaxy will play the Chicago Fire in a final preseason match at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., before the MLS season starts March 19.

The game figures to be the only time the Galaxy will have its two stars on the field--making acquaintance with their new teammates, no doubt--prior to Los Angeles’ opener on March 22 against D.C. United at the Home Depot Center.

Chances are, the game will also feature Fire playmaker Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the former--and perhaps future--Mexico international having signed a one-year contract extension with Chicago, which last week announced that it would play a home-and-home series against Blanco’s former team, Club America of Mexico, on undisclosed dates later this year.

Blanco, incidentally, turned 36 last Saturday, but with Mexico’s top players being sidelined one after another by injury, it is possible Mexico Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson could call upon him again to bolster his World Cup qualifying squad.

--Grahame L. Jones