Chivas USA takes fight to Galaxy, Beckham
Sooner or later, there was going to be a brawl involving David Beckham.
It arrived Thursday night.
In an ugly scene just before halftime of a 3-0 Chivas USA victory over the Galaxy, an already heated soccer rivalry between the teams was raised in temperature by more than a few degrees as a punch was thrown, a head butt was delivered and two players were ejected.
Beckham stood and watched it unfold, but it was a crude foul against him that started it all.
Chivas midfielder Jesse Marsch, chasing Beckham in the center of the Home Depot Center field, delivered a roundhouse kick to the England star’s midriff. Beckham leaped to his feet and went toe-to-toe and face-to-face with Marsch.
Other players formed a snarling, insult-yelling scrum around the pair. Somewhere in the midst of it, Galaxy midfielder Kevin Harmse threw a punch at Chivas defender Alex Zotinca, who took offense and head butted Harmse.
Both players were red-carded by referee Terry Vaughn and probably will face multi-game suspensions from Major League Soccer. Marsch, whose foul sparked the incident, received a yellow card.
Marsch said afterward that he had apologized to Beckham for the foul but also said he considered it “tactical,” in other words a professional foul.
“I got him a little harder than I wanted to,” Marsch said.
Beckham, who played the full 90 minutes after playing the entire game for England against Germany in London on Wednesday night and then taking a transatlantic flight Thursday morning, was not made available to the media.
At the final whistle, the unpleasantness between the teams evaporated.
The Galaxy players shook hands with their Chivas counterparts and Beckham even had a smile and a hug for Chivas USA Coach Preki and applauded fans in the announced crowd of 27,000.
“The guys came out ready to play,” Preki said.
Chivas USA’s victory was only its second in 12 games against the Galaxy over three seasons in league and U.S. Open Cup play. It improved the team’s MLS record to 10-6-3 and solidified its already promising playoff hopes.
The Galaxy, meanwhile, fell to 3-9-5 and its chances of making the playoffs hang by an increasingly slender thread.
Lost in all the suspense Thursday night was the fact that Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo scored his team-high ninth and 10th goals of the season, twice taking advantage of a Galaxy defense whose porous qualities are more apparent with each passing game.
Back in the spring, when Beckham hype was in full overdrive, Chivas USA toyed with a marketing slogan that went something like: “Come See ‘Panchito’ Mendoza Run Rings Around David Beckham.”
Mendoza didn’t exactly do that Thursday night, but he did score the final goal in the 88th minute after Galindo had tallied in the 58th and 69th minutes.
Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop was at a loss to explain how the Galaxy appears unable to turn around a season that has unraveled almost from the beginning.
“It’s not the worst result we’ve had since I’ve been here, but it’s pretty close,” Yallop said. “It was a disappointing night altogether.
“I guess there could be some type of excuse, with travel and all that, but I didn’t see much fight. Some players tried hard tonight but some didn’t know how to try and didn’t give me everything they had.”
Asked why Beckham had even been on the field, let alone played the full game, Yallop suggested that it was Beckham’s choice. Landon Donovan, who also traveled home from Europe Thursday, played only the final half-hour, while his U.S. teammate, Jonathan Bornstein, did not play at all for Chivas.
Beckham hobbled off the field after the match and his left ankle was visibly swollen. His status for Sunday’s game at the Colorado Rapids was uncertain.
Chivas USA, meanwhile, found the rare victory over the Galaxy more than pleasing.
“The passion to win these type of games has grown,” said defender Claudio Suarez. “It was evident that the Galaxy fans made fun of us by wearing sombreros and singing that we were going to cry tonight.
“But it was them who left crying.”
The teams play each other again on Sept. 13, when Chivas will be the “home” team. Mark the calendar.
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Times staff writer Jaime Cardenas contributed to this report.
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