Beckham Loses Badly

David Beckham was humbled when his LA Galaxy lost its MLS opener Saturday. 

They lost 0-4 to Colorado. 

The glamor team's new season under Dutch soccer legend Gullit started poorly despite Beckham racing back from midweek England duty to take on the Rapids.

"It's always going to be tough when you have international games," Beckham said. "I felt OK for most of the match, maybe not at my sharpest, but it was overall a tough game for us. We created chances, but didn't put them away."

It was not Beckham, but a lesser known former Manchester United winger Terry Cooke who opened the scoring in the 10th minute for Colorado.

"I'm finding it hard not to criticize some of the decisions tonight but I've just been told I'll be fined if I do," Beckham said. "I don't want that to happen. Referees have a tough job, but some decisions change games, and that's happened tonight."

The Galaxy said the altitude played a part in their sluggish play, and that Gomez's goal deflated them.

"The turning point was the penalty kick," Gullit said. "That caused a little bit of chaos in our organization, and we lost our head a little bit."

Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons. In his final season, Real clinched the 2006-07 La Liga chamionship title (Beckham's only major trophy with the club) in the final game of the season on 17 June. In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Beckham's new contract with the Galaxy, effective 1 July 2007, gave him the highest salary of any MLS player in history. He debuted for the team on 21 July in a friendly versus Chelsea at the Home Depot Center, and on 15 August, he had his first start with the team, scoring his first goal in the 2007 SuperLiga semi-final. His first league start then came on 18 August in front of a record crowd at Giants Stadium.

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Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com

Originally published March 30, 2008 9:02 am EST