Beckham stays on message, trophy to go surfing?

• by Ridge Mahoney  @ridgemax, Nov 21, 2011

In his post-MLS Cup comments, David Beckham showed the same consistency that marked his best, and possibly, last season in MLS: he revealed nothing about his future other than to reiterate, “We’ll see.”

He is out of contract at the end of the month and has done nothing to confirm or deny reports of a possible move to Paris St. Germain.“I’ve said before, I need to sit back and relax and enjoy this moment, and decide what I’m going to do,” said Beckham, who played a ball that Robbie Keane relayed to Landon Donovan to guide into the net past Houston keeper Tally Hall for the lone goal in the Galaxy's 1-0 win over Houston. He finished as the playoff assist leader with four, after compiling 15 during the regular season.

“I might talk in past tense every now and again, but it doesn’t mean I’m not coming back," said Beckham. "At the end of the day, I need to decide what’s best for me, and what’s best for the team, and my family. And then we’ll see. It’s been an amazing five years. It’s amazing to be part of a team that Bruce [Arena] has coached. It’s been the most enjoyable time of my career here in America the last few years and this has just topped it off tonight.”

KEANE’S KILLER PASS. Donovan referred to the through ball that Keane played to him after evading defender Bobby Boswell’s ill-advised challenge as “world-class,” and mentioned he had no idea Keane possessed that weapon until the Ireland striker came to the Galaxy.

Keane hit several crisp, timely passes while going the full 90 minutes on the heels of playing two games for his country against Estonia in the European Championship playoffs. He missed a good chance early in the second half and appeared to be tiring in the heavy, wet conditions, but when Beckham played a ball to him on the left flank and Boswell committed to a tackle, Keane slipped a pass that Donovan steered just inside the far post with the outside of his right foot.

“People see Robbie, justifiably so, as a great goalscorer,” said Donovan, who moved from midfield to forward when Chris Birchall replaced Adam Cristman, who had squandered three good chances, in the 57th minute. “But he’s a great soccer player, and I remember the first day he got here, watching him pass the ball, I was really impressed. I didn’t realize what a good passer he was. And the pass he gave me for the goal was fantastic, absolutely world-class.”

MAKING WAVES. On his way out of Home Depot Center, a player who didn’t feature in the playoffs nevertheless bore a pizza box, half-consumed bottle of beer and radiant smile.

Frankie Hejduk, a Southern California product who played at UCLA and won a title with Columbus in 2008 prior to being traded to Los Angeles in December 2010, played six games during the regular season but rode the bench for the playoffs. Yet with beer and pizza in tow he looked ready to celebrate, and announced he already has at least one postseason activity lined up.

“I’m going to take the Cup surfing,” he declared. “We get it for a day, right? So that’s what I’m doing with it.”

Hejduk may have confused the MLS Cup with the Stanley Cup. As is the custom, each member of the NHL championship team gets it for a day and can do anything he wants with it as long as it passed on to the next player undamaged.

However, a league spokesman said the cup received by the Galaxy Sunday night will be kept by the club and it is up to the Galaxy what is done with it. Each year’s champion receives its own MLS Cup to keep; the “eternal” MLS Cup is retained by the league.