Beckham-less Galaxy earn draw in Toronto

Last Updated: Sunday, August 5, 2007 | 11:50 PM ET

CBC Sports

Hard to say who is more eager for David Beckham to take the pitch: North American soccer fans or the Los Angeles Galaxy.

With the English star's much-hyped Major League Soccer debut on hold due to a nagging ankle injury, his punchless Galaxy teammates held on for a 0-0 draw with Toronto FC on Sunday night a BMO Field.

David Beckham, left, sits on the bench with teammate Steve Cronin at the start of Sunday's match in Toronto. The English star did not dress due to a left ankle injury.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Though the scoreboard didn't reflect it, the home side dominated the lively match in front of a raucous record crowd of 20,522. As Beckham watched in his civvies from the bench, Toronto peppered L.A. with 14 shots — five on goal — while the Galaxy mustered only two shots.

"We're devastated. We felt we deserved the three points," Toronto captain Jim Brennan told CBC Sports. "We got a few chances, we just couldn't put it away."

With the draw, Toronto (5-9-5) remains in last place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points. The team has not won since a 2-1 road victory over Real Salt Lake on July 4 and hasn't scored a goal in its last four games.

The Galaxy (3-5-5) remain in sixth place with 14 points in the Western Conference, but have played between five and seven fewer games than every other squad ahead of them in the division.

"[Beckham] probably would have helped, but we've got to do a better job, all of us," Galaxy captain Landon Donovan said. "One player is not going to make a difference in that game. We've got to be better going forward."

Toronto was without several of its key performers on Sunday, including goalkeeper Greg Sutton (concussion), forwards Jeff Cunningham (abdominal) and Danny Dichio (hip flexor), midfielder Ronnie O'Brien (knee) and defender Marvell Wynne (hamstring).

Not surprisingly, though, most of the injury talk leading up to the match centred on Beckham, who tested his balky left ankle during L.A.'s Saturday practice before pronouncing himself unfit to play.

"Running straight forward is not a problem, but turning corners is still a big problem at the moment," he said.

Beckham days away from starting

Beckham said that he was seven to 10 days away from starting, making him unlikely to play in the Galaxy's next match, on Thursday in Washington against D.C. United.

"I'm really frustrated at the moment, not being able to get on the pitch," Beckham told CBC's Scott Russell in a interview that aired at halftime. "That's the difficulty with being here at the moment. Being on the pitch [Saturday] and watching the lads train is so frustrating. I have to go away and take a shower or something."

There was speculation that the former England captain would be on the bench Sunday as a possible late-game substitute, but he did not dress, instead watching from the Galaxy bench in a dark suit, white shirt and red tie.

Beckham has played only 16 minutes for the Galaxy because of the tender ankle. His only action came as a substitute in a July 21 exhibition against Chelsea of the English Premier League.

The absence of the 32-year-old midfielder didn't seem to bother the typically boisterous BMO Field crowd.

Feeding off the raucous support of its fans, Toronto dominated the first half, looking nothing like a team that came into the match without a goal in its last 282 minutes as it outshot L.A. 8-0.

Forward Andrea Lombardo came within a hair of putting Toronto on the board in the sixth minute, chipping a shot over challenging goalkeeper Joe Cannon. But as the ball bounded toward the net, Galaxy defender Ty Harden swooped in to make a spectacular sliding save just in front of the goal line.

Lombardo had another close call in the 29th minute, but the Torontonian's low shot from 10 yards out rolled just wide of the left post.

Toronto midfielder Chris Pozniak had a great chance early in the second half as he deked his way into the goal area for a clear shot, but his attempted cross-crease pass to Lombardo was broken up.

Toronto put together another flurry in the 81st minute and continued to apply pressure to the end — culminating with a partial breakaway by Andy Welsh in the final minute of extra time — but couldn't get one past Cannon.