BECKHAM STAYS BACK.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

Staff Writer

DALLAS -- David Beckham was left behind Monday when the rest of the Galaxy flew here for tonight's SuperLiga game with FC Dallas, which was supposed to be the first port of call on his whistle-stop tour of Major League Soccer cities.

The official reason: more treatment on his sore left ankle.

Unofficially: fear of flying.

Beckham's ankle, injured more than six weeks ago, is much improved from 10 days ago when he trotted around the field for 16 minutes against Chelsea in front of a national TV audience and hundreds of international media.

But when Beckham was sent airborne by an exuberant yet clean sliding challenge from Chelsea's Steve Sidwell, the Galaxy's visions of a $32.5 million wipeout on their investment were too strong to ignore.

So, rather than risk further injury on the field, Beckham remained in Los Angeles and will continue to work with the training staff in hopes of joining the team Friday, when it leaves for Toronto and its first MLS game in nearly a month Sunday.

Galaxy president Alexi Lalas said Beckham won't be on the field until he's 100 percent healthy.

"We don't want to fall into this trap of trying to appease everybody and aggravate the injury," Lalas said. "If he's constantly playing catch up, he'll be no good to the Galaxy and we'll suffer on and off the field. It's a long-term play here."

Lalas also admitted that, no matter the buzz it created, he now wishes Beckham hadn't played against Chelsea and also regrets him flying two days before the Chelsea match to Colorado for the MLS All-Star Game.

"If we had it to do over again, the Chelsea game and the trip to Colorado (for the MLS All-Star Game), we wouldn't have done it," Lalas said.

"Flying is something that doesn't help an ankle injury. When it came to the Chelsea game, obviously there was a tremendous amount of pressure and attention. It would have been a tremendous downer to say, 'No, David's not going to appear.' "

MLS commissioner Don Garber, asked what he was thinking when Beckham was sent flying by Sidwell, said, "It wasn't one of my better moments of the day. I was a little surprised that tackle happened."

Lalas and Galaxy coach Frank Yallop wouldn't say for certain whether or not playing against Chelsea set Beckham back. Lalas also expressed concern that the Galaxy will return to MLS with a four-game road trip in which three of those games will be on artificial turf.

"(That's) the underlying point of this road trip," goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. "Everyone knows turf is not the best thing for injured joints, whether it's your knee, ankle, whatever."

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GALAXY at FC DALLAS

- Billy Witz