MLS expert Aaron Cummins gives us the low down on David Beckham's eagerly awaited return to the Galaxy side who were looking to secure a 6th consecutive victory in their quest for the play-offs.

Late last night, while all of England was tucked in bed, dreaming up ways to bribe the Israelis into put up a fight next month in Tel Aviv (do they like marmite?), David Beckham was waiting patiently for his chance to have an impact on the MLS playoff race. 

Beckham started on the bench for L.A.'s match against Red Bull New York last night (4AM GMT kickoff). It marked his first time in uniform since injuring his right knee on August 29th in the SuperLiga final. An eventful first half - for players not named Beckham - saw Troy Roberts score off of a fantastic cross by Landon Donovan, followed almost immediately by an equalizer from 17-year-old wunderkind Jozy Altidore (who will be playing in Europe by '09, if not sooner). Altidore's goal came so quickly, in fact, that the announcers were still talking about how nice it was to see David jump off the bench to celebrate L.A.'s goal.

The second half started a bit slowly, but L.A. began to build some pressure and in the 66th minute Beckham took off the warm-up top and entered the game. Other than committing a quick foul, he had little impact on the game in his first moments on the pitch. 

In the 75th minute, L.A. forced a series of four corners in a row, with Beckham taking all four. The first was training ground stuff, as a short ball was played to the top of the 18, where midfielder Josh Tudela met the ball and forced a nice save out of New York ‘keeper Jon Conway. The second found an unmarked L.A. head, but nothing came of it. Golden Balls failed to clear the first defender on the 3rd and 4th.  

The game continued on, with Beckham making a few nice passes, but while L.A. kept possession and gained momentum, they never really created clear scoring chances. The best opportunity for a winner fell to Altidore, who just barely failed to curl one into the net after being played clear in the 89th minute. A goal there would've eliminated the Galaxy from playoff contention, and a lot of MLS other clubs' supporters would've laughed and laughed. 

Instead, it ended 1-1, stopping L.A.'s run of five consecutive victories, but keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. The Galaxy will need to beat Chicago on Sunday and hope that Kansas City loses at FC Dallas. 

Beckham Verdict 

Not sure if it's heartening to England supporters to know that DB had such a small impact on the game, but there the facts. There was one moment where he was able to get the ball off of a New York player while being fouled. The ball fell kindly and it looked like L.A. was on a break. Of course, the referee failed to play advantage. In a related story, refereeing in MLS is atrocious. For every decent ref, there are five that seem to be watching a different game. Which reminds me... 

Penalty! 

Speedy New York winger Dane Richards looked to have earned a penalty shortly before Beckham's introduction. Richards beat his marker down the right flank and was clearly tripped up as he rounded the goalkeeper. The referee waved play on. The sequence was about 74 times more worthy of a penalty than the one given on Wednesday against Rooney. For starters, it happened in the box, which, I've found, tends to be a prerequisite in these situations. 

Yay, U.S. Commentary!

Apparently, "Ronaldinho and Barcelona" will be playing "DaMarcus Beasley and ‘the Rangers'" in a Champions League match next week. Live on ESPN2! Rob Stone really said "the Rangers." Ugh. They also broke away from game action at one point to show Juan Pablo Angel's spread in a Spanish-language magazine's "50 Sexiest Bachelors" issue. It seems JPA is an "hombre mås sexy." You don't really need a Beckham-level mastery of Spanish to understand that one. And with that in mind... 

A Word About The Gooners... 

Is there anything worse than one of your club's top players coming back from international duty injured? Well, other than being shot in a drive-by or picking up a "social disease", I guess. It seems Robin van Persie will be lost to Arsenal for a month with a knee injury he picked up playing for Holland. I realize injuries are a part of any season, but I definitely find it less annoying when a player crocks himself playing for his own club. Anyway, onwards and upwards we'll hope. Saturday Bolton visits the Grove and I'm quite curious to see how they fare play for their new manager, the Travelocity gnome.