GALAXY: FALLOUT FROM USE OF BECKHAM CONTINUES.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

Staff Writer

CARSON -- When David Beckham landed face down on the grass, writhing in pain after challenging Pachuca's Fernando Salazar for a loose ball, Galaxy coach Frank Yallop jumped out of his seat fearing the worst.

"When you go down, you feel it -- boom," Yallop said, recalling his own experience with a sprained knee during his playing days. "I was just hoping it wasn't anything other than that. That was kind of the good news -- no meniscus tear, no ACL tear. That would have been a nightmare."

That's what it's come to for the Galaxy these days. Its best player and media magnet for the league has barely been healthy enough to give fans a royal wave, rescue his doe-eyed teammates from the MLS basement, and -- perhaps -- save Yallop and/or president Alexi Lalas from the unemployment line.

So, when they learn that Beckham will miss six weeks and possibly the rest of the season with sprained knee ligaments in his right knee -- an injury that accompanies his sprained left ankle -- the reaction is: Well, it could have been worse.

When AEG president Tim Leiweke and Major League Soccer executives brokered the five-year, $32.5 million deal in January to bring Beckham to the United States, it brought them a worldwide platform to pitch their product. Now, with Beckham laying at home in Beverly Hills, the boom mikes will be packed up and the klieg lights turned off.

MLS may have a worthwhile product to sell, with the additions internationally known players such as Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago), Colombia's Juan Pablo Angel (New York) and Brazil's Denilson (FC Dallas). But without Beckham, who will know?

"There's been a lot of mismanagement," said Marcelo Balboa, the television commentator and former United States national team member. "The Galaxy, MLS -- this is untouched territory for everybody involved. Nobody knows how to handle something like this, something that's as big as Beckham. ... You look at the impact Blanco has had in Chicago -- it's been pretty big. But it's nothing like Beckham."

Beckham is 32 with a history of injuries -- including a sprained knee earlier this year in Spain that sidelined him for a month. So when he showed up to play in a league that may be as fast and physical as any in the world with a still-swollen ankle, somebody should have stood firm when sponsors, networks and even Beckham himself wanted to play.

Instead, he was jetted to Colorado to be a spectator at the MLS All-Star Game and trotted out against Chelsea, where he aggravated the injury. Then the Galaxy embarked on a schedule in which they played 11 games in 36 days. In that stretch, Beckham jetted to England to play for his country.

Lalas said it's too soon to determine whether Beckham could return this season, but regardless of whether the team -- which sits 13 points out of the last playoff berth with 12 games left, beginning with Real Salt Lake tonight -- is in contention or not, Beckham wouldn't be brought back until he's completely healthy and fit.

In other Galaxy injury news, Chris Klein, whose stunning bicycle kick goal sent Wednesday's game into extra time, wore a sleeve over his right knee. Abel Xavier, whose missed penalty sealed the loss, left with an ice pack on his left knee. Joe Cannon, whose several sprawling saves kept his team alive, didn't practice with a sore groin. And Kyle Martino will be fitted with a new cast on his broken hand -- he cracked the old one Wednesday.

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Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m., Home Depot Center.

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