Beckham brings confidence to Galaxy
Club seeing change in culture with return of English superstar
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After all of the hype and media attention surrounding his return, Beckham marked his first appearance of the season in style in the LA Galaxy's 3-1 win against New York at Giants Stadium on Thursday night.
"It's great to be back, personally and great to be back on a team that is confident, as we showed tonight," Beckham said.
That confidence is just one indicator of how considerably things have changed since Beckham last played for the Galaxy. Beckham left a struggling side and returned to a cohesive unit pushing for a playoff place. After another solid performance extended the Galaxy's winning streak to four matches, Beckham praised the confidence coursing through the team right now and suggested the Galaxy now have legitimate aspirations towards lifting MLS Cup.
"From what I've seen tonight and in other games that I've watched, without a doubt," Beckham said. "We have to push forward still. There's still a lot of hard work to be done, but we're playing together as a team. Not to say too much about the players and the teams that we've had in the past, but we've got players now who have a lot of confidence."
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Part of that confidence comes from finally having Beckham in the fold, according to Arena.
"He certainly brings confidence to the team," Arena said. "We're a team where we were very suspect in midfield. All of a sudden, we got really good when we added Landon Donovan and David Beckham to the midfield."
Though most expected him to play Beckham on the right flank, Arena opted to play Beckham in central midfield alongside Stefani Miglioranzi. In that role, Arena said he hoped to get 60 minutes from Beckham in his first MLS start of the season.
"I didn't think we'd get as much out of him as we did tonight," Arena said.
Arena said Beckham blew past that mark and would have played longer than the 70 minutes he was eventually allotted had Arena consented.
"David is a competitive guy," Arena said. "At halftime, I told him we were going to go to 60 minutes. Then he told me 65 and then 70. If he had his way, he'd keep going. Like any player, he's kept himself reasonably fit from his break with AC Milan and the national team. However, you have to get back in training and get some games."
Arena wasn't the only one pleased to have Beckham back in the fold. Galaxy captain Landon Donovan -- who notched a goal and an assist on the evening -- said Beckham's ability made it easy to bed him back into the team.
"It was fantastic," Donovan said. "The first day he got back in training -- with players like that you don't worry about chemistry because he sees the game the same way. I think even with a little time to practice and get back on the same page, we'll figure things out a little bit more."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
