Galaxy, AC Milan tie in friendly
LA's David Beckham has pair of assists against former teammates
The Galaxy gave the 17-time Serie A champions all they could handle in a spirited 2-2 tie in front of a boisterous, sellout crowd at The Home Depot Center.
The Galaxy's David Beckham, facing his former team where he spent five months on an extended loan earlier this year, was booed loudly in his first home game in Los Angeles since his return. But he assisted on both LA goals and turned many of those boos into cheers by the time Mike Magee substituted for him in the 75th minute.
The Galaxy, winners of four consecutive regular-season games, were curious to see how they stacked up against one of the world's soccer powerhouses and found out they stack up quite well. Granted, AC Milan is in the midst of their preseason preparations, but the Galaxy still gave a strong account of themselves, especially in the first half.
The Galaxy controlled possession for the majority of the opening 45 minutes and had most of the scoring chances.
They took just seven minutes for their first attempt when Beckham launched a long pass of almost 60 yards to Eddie Lewis on the wing. Lewis collected the ball and just missed from 16 yards.
Milan, in the midst of their preparations for next month's Serie A opener, got their own scoring chance compliments of the Galaxy. Los Angeles defender Gregg Berhalter headed away a crossing pass from Marco Boriello, but it went directly at the Galaxy net and barely cleared the crossbar.
Milan finally scored four minutes later on a free kick by Davide Di Gennaro that was headed in by Thiago Silva from just inside the goal area.
The Galaxy finally responded 14 minutes later after rookie defender Omar Gonzalez headed away a corner kick. It went to Beckham, who sent another long ball to Landon Donovan, who caught the Milan defense flat-footed as he went downfield.
Donovan then passed to Alan Gordon (a first-half substitute for Edson Buddle), who had no trouble in beating goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac from 12 yards for the goal and a 1-1 tie.
Both teams had quality chances in the final minutes of the first half, with Boriello just missing the net from a sharp angle and Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant's header going just wide after a Beckham free kick.
Milan had another good chance, but this one came on another near gaffe by Berhalter, whose back pass to Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts skipped past the Galaxy netminder and barely went wide of the net.
Milan finally took the lead in the 61st minute. Ronaldinho, a terror on the wing all night, found Mathieu Flamini all alone on the flank. He collected the pass and beat second-half substitute Leonard Griffin with a nice pass through the defender's legs to Filippo Inzaghi, who in turn beat goalkeeper Josh Saunders for the easy score and 2-1 lead.
The Galaxy, however, came right back four minutes later. Beckham sent in a corner kick that was headed in by Bryan Jordan for the tying goal.
Larry Morgan is a contributor to MLSnet.com
