The Los Angeles Galaxy recovered from a terrible first half to earn a 2-2 draw against defending MLS champ Houston Dynamo on Saturday. Once again, the team owed its goals to Landon Donovan and David Beckham. Beckham assisted on each of Donovan's goals, which came in the 67th and 84th minutes.
"First half -- terrible," Beckham said in an interview with ESPN's Andrea Canales. "We had no fight in the first half, no urgency at all. Throw-ins, free kicks, everything was slow." Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit said the team was slow to adapt after regular starters Ely Allen and Alvaro Pires were late scratches. "It was improvising from the start with the personnel we had, and it didn't work out," he said. "In the first half, we were just outplayed."
The Galaxy turned things around in the second half, thanks to the leadership of Donovan and Beckham. "I'm very proud of my team," Gullit said. "Landon [Donovan] and David, they really showed how big of leaders they are. I think they did everything to win this game." After the match, Houston coach Dominic Kinnear was also forced to hand out kudos to the duo: "If you give David Beckham time -- the one thing about Landon is that his running off the ball is exceptional -- so that's a pretty dangerous situation, or combination," he said.
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