BECKHAM INJURED AS GALAXY FALLS SHORT AFTER STAR LEAVES, L.A. TIES SCORE, LOSES TO PACHUCA ON PENALTY KICKS.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

Staff Writer

CARSON -- It ended with David Beckham in a gray suit, arm-in-arm with his Galaxy teammates on the sidelines, and it ended with Abel Xavier watching his penalty kick sail far wide of the post.

But after more than two hours filled of twists and turns -- including one to Beckham's right knee -- and scintillating and inspiring soccer, it ended like it always seems to for the Galaxy in this season: gone wrong.

When Xavier fooled Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero -- but pushed his shot wide right -- it lifted the best team in Mexico to a 4-3 victory in front of 12,500 at Home Depot Center, where penalties were needed to settle a 1-1 tie after 120 minutes.

If the Galaxy could take solace from playing by far its best game of the season -- despite losing Beckham in the 29th minute, the latest in a long line of injuries this season -- the defeat nevertheless deprived them of their one chance of forgetting their lost season for a day.

After tying the score on a spectacular bicycle kick by Chris Klein in the 93rd and next-to-last minute of regulation, the Galaxy seemed to have both hands on the trophy when Pachuca's Marvin Cabrera watched his penalty shot ricochet off the crossbar.

That left the Galaxy, at 3-3, with a chance to win when Landon Donovan stepped to the penalty spot. Not having missed a penalty shot in two years while playing for the Galaxy and the United States, he did his ritual kneel for a moment, then rose up, crossed himself, kissed his finger tips and ran up to the ball.

But Calero read his shot to the left post and palmed it wide, leaving Donovan holding his head in his hands.

Carlos Rodriguez then put his next shot past Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon, setting the stage for Xavier's miss.

When he did, Calero -- who guessed correctly on every shot but Xavier's -- ran with his arms outstretched and greeted his teammates, who bounced up and down, celebrating their fourth title in the past nine months and the $1 million prize that went to the winners of the inaugural tournament.

"That's the best penalty taker we have and in the U.S.," Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said of Donovan's miss. "It was all set up for us. It was almost like the script was written. You set it up perfectly and the keeper makes the save, and then Abel misses his, too. But you can't be too upset, everybody played great tonight."

Despite a furious second-half effort, it appeared that injury and insult would be the story for the Galaxy when Beckham limped off the field shortly after Peter Vagenas had knocked a goal into his own net.

But in one last push, Galaxy fullback Mike Randolph's header bounced off the crossbar. When Luis Gabriel Rey headed his clearance attempt into the air, the Galaxy's Troy Roberts challenged Leopardo Lopez for another header.

The ball ricocheted toward the right of the goal where Klein, the 32-year-old midfielder with his back turned to the goal, flipped in the air and rifled a shot into the back of the net.

Klein said he'd never scored a goal like that before.

"I don't know if I could do that on my bed," Klein said."

After the match, Galaxy coach Frank Yallop showed just as much fire as his players had on the field.

"To be honest, I'm real proud of everyone of our players given the circumstances and the crap in the last few weeks," Yallop said. "Guys are (expletive) now, but they kept going. ... "It's been hard, we know what's ahead. We're absolutely spent."

Despite the Galaxy's woeful MLS season and the crowd being limited to less than half the stadium's 27,000-seat capacity because of a conflict with the start of classes at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Home Depot Center had a big game feel to it.

The entire lower bowl -- save for the north end zone, which was sealed off -- was filled with Pachuca and Galaxy fans, who clearly came for the soccer. After 120 minutes, they weren't disappointed.

Pachuca took the lead in the 28th minute, when Christian Gimenez's blistering cross from the left corner was knocked into the Galaxy net by Vagenas.

Almost immediately after the goal, the Galaxy attempted to counter strike. Donovan carried the ball into the left corner where he back-heeled the ball into space, leaving it a good 10 yards between Beckham and Pachuca midfielder Fernando Salazar who had dropped back to defend.

The two players raced to the 50-50 ball, each squaring his right foot and planting it into the ball. Salazar, arriving an instant before Beckham, won the ball and Beckham tumbled to the turf, where he lay face down.

As the crowd gasped, Beckham slowly rose and hobbled to the corner, where he was met by Galaxy trainer Ivan Pierra. After first being termed a strain, the injury was downgraded to a sprain after Beckham was examined at halftime. A strain is an injury to the muscle, a sprain to a ligament.

"At this stage it doesn't feel good. We'll have to wait and see," Beckham said. "We'll have to wait and see."

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(color) The Galaxy's David Beckham grimaces as he hits the turf in the first half Wednesday. Beckham left in the 29th minute.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press