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David Beckham took a fairly sizable cut in pay to stay with Galaxy rather than chase Paris Saint-Germain's millions, it turns out, and he's no longer Major League Soccer's top earner.

That's the big news from the MLS Players Union's release Friday of salary figures across the league, an annual event that provides the only substantial look at at least a portion of player contracts in the league.

Beckham, whose initial five-year deal with the Galaxy paid him $32.5 million -- $5.5 million in annual salary and $6.5 million in average guaranteed compensation -- settled for $2.5 million less this go-round: His salary is $3 million and guaranteed compensation is $4 million.

That drops him below New York Red Bulls stars Thierry Henry ($5 million and $5.6 million) and Rafa Marquez ($4.6 million for both figures). Galaxy striker Robbie Keane (making $2.917 million in salary, $3.417 million guaranteed) is No. 4 on the league's list, and captain Landon Donovan ($2.4 million) is No. 5.

Beckham was offered a reported 18-month, $18.7 million contract by French giant PSG before re-signing a two-year deal with the Galaxy in January.

Additional compensation, beyond base salary and guaranteed compensation, is not accounted for in the Players Union survey.

Chivas USA striker Juan Pablo Angel also took a substantial pay cut, dropping out of Designated Player territory. He's making only $350,000 in base salary (after receiving $1 million under his previous contract) but $600,000 in guaranteed compensation (down from $1.25 million).

The Galaxy has the second-highest payroll at about $10.76 million, behind only the Red Bulls' $12.2 million. Chivas is 14th at nearly $2.62 million.

Chivas has been economical in picking up talent in South America. Star central midfielder Oswaldo Minda is making only $50,000 ($68,750 guaranteed), fellow Ecuadoran Miller Bolaños and Colombian forward Jose Erik Correa just $48,000 apiece, and Colombian center back John Alexander Valencia $50,000.

Decent raises were given to Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy ($175,000 from $62,496) and Galaxy defenders Omar Gonzalez ($180,000 from $120,000) and Sean Franklin ($205,000 from $97,389).

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David Beckham knows where he'll be spending part of the Galaxy's two-week break for FIFA's fixture dates: back at home, collecting a major honor.

Beckham will be at Wembley Stadium a week from Saturday for England's Euro 2012 tuneup against Belgium, and he'll be one of five players fêted for making 100 senior appearances for the English national team, the Football Association announced Friday.

Beckham has won 115 caps for England, most among field players and second all-time to goalkeeper Peter Shilton (125), who also will be on hand. Beckham remains available for the English, but, at 37, it is unlikely he will make another appearance. He is hoping for an over-age spot on the unified Great Britain Olympic team this summer.

Legend Bobby Charlton (106) also will be on hand, as well as the widow of 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore and the daughter of Billy Wright (105), who played from the 1940s into the 1960s.

All five will receive a medal and commemorative cap during a halftime ceremony.

The Galaxy plays Saturday at Houston, then has the next two weekends off from Major League Soccer duty during FIFA's first international window after the close of the European season. L.A. has a U.S. Open Cup match Tuesday at Carolina RailHawks and, if they advance, a week later at Home Depot Center against Chivas USA or the Ventura County Fusion. The club also plays an MLS Reserve League game June 2 at Portland.

It's a rematch of last November's MLS Cup final, the only one scheduled this season, but that's in no way the point when the Galaxy and Houston battle Saturday afternoon at the Dynamo's brand new BBVA Compass Stadium.

Neither is the stadium, although the Galaxy -- well, some of them -- are excited to see another new Major League Soccer facility and compare it to the New York Red Bulls' and Sporting Kansas City's stadiums, the league's unquestioned gems.

More important, for both sides, is finding some semblance of the form that took them to the title game last year, which L.A. won, 1-0, in front of the home fans to win its third championship.

Landon Donovan, who made the deepest imprint that evening and scored the lone goal, isn't around for this meeting -- he's off with the U.S. national team -- and neither is star striker Robbie Keane, also on international duty. Their absence had little impact in Wednesday night's 3-2 defeat to San Jose: The Galaxy played with confidence and swagger missing through the first 13 games this year, building a two-goal lead after 73 minutes.

It all fell apart after that, but it wasn't the collapse that was on the Galaxy's mind afterward. Rather how well they had played until then.

“It's a tough pill to swallow, but we had a great performance for the most part ...,” defender Todd Dunivant said. “We'll see how we respond. We have to take it the right way and realize that we played very well. We have to learn to close the game out. ... It doesn't matter if you deserve to win or are the best team on the day. That's not how this game is won or lost. You have to do the little things the entire game.”

The Galaxy haven't and are 3-7-2 after losing only six, seven and five regular-season games the past three seasons. They haven't won in more than a month, six games in all, and have no shutouts in 14 competitive games after posting 22 in 46 matches last year.

“It's a character test,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “It's a challenge in leadership. I think you're a good leader [if you can lead] when things aren't going well -- it's real easy to lead when things are going great. We'll see the character of our players and coaching staff.”

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CARSON -- Let's make one thing clear: It wasn't referee Jair Marrufo who cost the Galaxy a victory Wednesday night, when the San Jose Earthquakes rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 Major League Soccer victory at Home Depot Center.

He just didn't help.

That's what the Galaxy thinks anyway, after a red card to Hector Jimenez and a penalty kick after a hand ball in the box by David Beckham helped fuel the Quakes' comeback.

Everyone agrees that Jimenez's red card was fair. And so, perhaps, was the penalty kick Khari Stephenson converted to tie the score in the 82nd minute. But head coach Bruce Arena noted in his postgame news conference that Marrufo “didn't call anything on their strikers all night” and that the referee's failure to award the Galaxy a penalty kick after San Jose defender Ike Opara handled the ball in his box after falling to the ground, was egregious.

“I'm told,” Arena said, “their hand ball in the first half is not a hand ball, even though he basically got both hands on the ball. What can you say?”

Beckham was more direct in his criticism.

“Unfortunately, we had someone in control of the game tonight that, every time we've had him, he wants to be the star, and that's what happens when you have a referee who wants to be on 'SportsCenter,' ” he said. "That was disappointing.

“Maybe the decision for the sending off, maybe it was. The penalty? Maybe it was. ... I just turned my back, and my arms were as close to me as they could be. They weren't outstretched -- yeah, it hit my hand, but it could have gone either way. [Opara] falls on the ball in the penalty area, rolls over it a couple of times, touches it with his hand a couple of times. Everyone else sees it apart from the 'star.' ”

Strong words, and they'll probably cost Beckham a few dollars once the league gets wind of them. Oh, well. He can afford it.

CARSON -- The Galaxy couldn't have felt much better about things as the clock hit 75 minutes Wednesday night: Their best performance of the season had been rewarded with a two-goal lead, and although they were down to 10 men, they were in control. Hold on another 15 minutes, plus a few more in stoppage, and they'd have their first victory in a month.

But in a season in which nearly everything that can go wrong has, L.A. found a new, most devastating way to fall, surrendering three goals over the final 20 minutes -- the last deep in stoppage -- to drop its fourth game in the last five, a 3-2 defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes that left a lot of heads shaking.

Alan Gordon's header in the 94th minute delivered the knockout blow, handing the Galaxy their seventh league defeat, extending their winless streak to six games and leaving them in the Western Conference basement, 16 points off the lead.

“We played awful well tonight not to get something out of this game. It's a shame,” noted Galaxy coach Bruce Arena. “You make your own breaks, and tonight we were in position to get three points and really turned that game over.”

Bell Gardens' Hector Jimenez, making just his second MLS start, third league appearance and 2012 debut, scored a fine goal in the third minute to give L.A. an advantage but was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Steven Beitashour in the 59th minute, and the Galaxy (3-7-2, 11 points) -- dominant to that point -- watched everything change in a matter of minutes.

First, they doubled their lead, with Mike Magee taking a pass on the break from David Beckham, then beating Quakes defender Jason Hernandez and stepping past goalkeeper Jon Busch to fire into the goal's ceiling in the 73rd minute.

Three minutes later, Yorba Linda's Steven Lenhart got one back for San Jose, a near-post header from Marvin Chavez's corner kick, and the Quakes were on the front foot the rest of the way.

“We're ahead 2-0, I don't know how many minutes left,” Arena said. “Really a poor tactical approach on our behalf. We shouldn't get beat on a restart for a goal. That let them back in the game. And we can't lose the ball in our defensive half. We have to play the ball up the field, we have to pull in collectively as a group and defend with our 10 players and play the game out, get the three points and go home.”

Khari Stephenson tied the score in the 82nd minute, converting a penalty kick after Beckham handled the ball while leaping to block a drive by Hernandez. A turnover led to the winner, with Hernandez again pumping the ball into the box and Gordon, who scored equalizers in the 88th and 90th minutes of San Jose's last two games, escaped Sean Franklin's mark and soared above A.J. DeLaGarza to nod it into the net.

“I just was following up the play,” said Gordon, who played for the Galaxy from 2004 through 2010. “I think there may have been a little bit of hesitation on their part, and I was just seeing the play through. They hesitated, I didn't, I finished it. Forwards get lucky sometimes. I got lucky. Who cares? I put it in, end of story, period.”

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CARSON -- David Beckham knows what the Galaxy needs to do to turn around this disaster of a season and start a steady climb toward their rightful place among Major League Soccer's trophy contenders.

“We're champions,” he said on the eve of Wednesday night's Home Depot Center showdown with the San Jose Earthquakes. “And we need to start playing and walking on the field like champions, instead of walking on the field thinking because we're champions, we just have to turn up.”

It's different phrasing, but the sentiment hasn't changed over 11 weeks. L.A. started poorly and, but for moments here and halves there, have continued to play far below its standard. The Galaxy (3-6-2) already have lost more MLS games than all of last season and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, 15 points -- five victories -- off the lead.

The Galaxy have two more matches before the league takes two weekends off for international fixture dates, and if they're going to start righting things before then, they'll have to do so without captain Landon Donovan and star striker Robbie Keane, who are away until mid-June -- perhaps later for Keane -- with their national teams.

What that means, exactly, is hard to say. Keane has not played well and is dealing with a hamstring injury that would have kept him out of Wednesday's game regardless. Donovan has been up and down, not to his usual level.

Head coach Bruce Arena took a sly swipe their way when discussing San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski, MLS's goals leader, who is with Donovan in the U.S. national team camp in Orlando, Fla. Asked how much his absence might affect the Earthquakes, Arena said: “He's a good player, and he's been playing well. If you have good players that aren't playing well and you're losing, perhaps it's not as much.”

He then was asked whether his team will miss Donovan and Keane.

“It hasn't the last five games or so,” Arena said. “I mean, when you haven't done well and you lose a player, you can't be crying about it. ... No one questions the quality of Robbie and Landon, but we don't have any results to show it's going to be a loss we can't overcome.”

Defender Todd Dunivant says he thinks it's not necessarily a negative, that the Galaxy will have to be more proactive without their stars.

“Guys are going to have to step up to the plate,” he said. “We need that kind of responsibility to be put on other players, and everyone on this team needs to step it up a little bit. It's not one or two guys need to pick up their game, it's everybody needs to raise their game.

“Sometimes having absences like this help you because guys have to step up and the responsibility is put on them.”

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CARSON -- Josh Saunders wasn't going to sneak quietly back onto the field for the Galaxy. His teammates made sure of that, welcoming him warmly into training again after 3½ weeks away in Major League Soccer's substance abuse treatment program -- and teasing him, of course, about the time off.

“He looks great,” David Beckham said Tuesday after Saunders' second on-field session since he left the team April 27. “He's straight back into it. He's had a bit of stick [from his teammates] for having a few weeks off, but it's good to have him back. It's important for him to get back with the players and team and his friends, and he seems happy.”

Saunders isn't yet eligible to play -- he's still in the program, returning to the facility each day from Home Depot Center -- and there's no timeline for his return, but reintegrating with the group, in the locker room and on the training field, is an important step in his recovery.

It's stress, not, as widely speculated, drugs or alcohol that sent the 31-year-old goalkeeper into MLS's Substance Abuse and Behavioral Program, Saunders said in a brief exchange with media Tuesday.

“I was putting myself under a lot of pressure. I just needed to step away ...,” he said. “I was under some stress, had some family issues, wanted to deal with them on my own. We're humans. We have a life outside of soccer, and people forget that. I'm just happy to be in the state that I'm in now.”

So are his teammates.

“It's like he was never gone,” defender Todd Dunivant said. “He addressed the team, and we welcomed him back with open arms, and we'll support him all along the way. ...

“[It's vital for him] to be around the locker room, around the guys, get the banter and all that kind of stuff that we get on a daily basis. If you don't have that, it's difficult. You can see that with guys that go out for long injuries and come back, they miss that. Just to welcome back and give him jabs a little bit again and get him in with the jokes again makes a difference.”

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CARSON -- David Beckham noted a couple of weeks ago that there was no need for the Galaxy to panic yet, but if things didn't turn soon, that time would quickly arrive.

After Saturday night's SuperClasico loss to Chivas USA, perhaps it is time for panic.

The Galaxy (3-6-2) haven't won in their last five games, and all three of their losses in that span have been by shutout. They still don't have a clean sheet in 13 games, including the CONCACAF Champions League, after posting 22 in 46 competitive matches last year. They've surrendered the first goal 10 times and in seven of their last eight games. By the end of the day, they could be in the Western Conference cellar.

We've seen too little from Robbie Keane, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan and Juninho -- and Keane and Donovan are leaving for awhile -- and although team defense has improved following a horrid start to the season, there remain problems -- and likely will until Omar Gonzalez returns hopefully sometime this summer.

And now the defending MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield champion has fallen behind its hated rivals in the battle for SoCal supremacy. Chivas is hotter (especially with Juan Agudelo's arrival), better defensively and steadily moving forward toward something potentially very grand.

Saturday's loss -- with Chivas dominating play in the first half but not creating much out of it, the Galaxy responding nicely in the second half, and a penalty kick with 20 minutes to go making the difference -- was another backward step for L.A.

“On the season, our record is probably not real precise in therms of how we've played,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “I think we've played better than our record indicates, but tonight the difference in the game is taking a chance. We didn't do it, and give [Chivas] credit.”

The Galaxy has played well in spurts this season, early on against Real Salt Lake, the rout of D.C. United, the second half in last week's draw at Montreal. They were swell to start the second half Saturday, creating far more dangerous chances than Chivas could -- Miller Bolaños' shot off the post and the play leading to the PK aside. If not for Dan Kennedy's 50th-minute stops on Pat Noonan's blistering shot across the face of the net and Kyle Nakazawa's rebound, L.A. wins.

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CARSON -- Chivas USA ended the most painful drought in club history Saturday night, beating its hated rival for the first time since 2007, but more than that, the Goats offered a tantalizing glimpse at what their future could look like.

Juan Agudelo, acquired in a trade Thursday from the New York Red Bulls, made a fine impression in his debut, teaming up front with Jose Erik Correa and Miller Bolaños to create an attack that, once everyone is on the same page, could lead to something very special.

The Goats dictated play most of the first half and, with new defender Danny Califf anchoring a fine backline performance, held off a resurgent Galaxy after halftime to claim a 1-0 triumph before a sellout crowd of 18,800 at Home Depot Center.

The goal came on a 72nd-minute penalty kick by Correa, who had to take it twice -- the first was waved off when Jorge Villafaña encroached before the shot -- firing both to virtually the same spot.

That's two goals Chivas (4-6-1, 13 points) has scored at home this year, both on penalties, but this one meant a lot more, giving the club its first home victory in six tries.

That it came against the Galaxy (3-6-2, 11 points) made it all the more spectacular. L.A.'s unbeaten streak against its cross-stadium rival had reached 12 games, with victories in the last five meetings and in the last six regular-season encounters.

“It's big,” said Chivas coach Robin Fraser, a former Galaxy star. “I think I underestimated the level of rivalry between the two teams when I first got here. I was surprised by the nature of the comments after our first game last year, and it was very evident that there is very little respect for this club [from the other side]. We talked a lot during the week that the only way to get respect is to go out and earn it and I thought they did a good job of that tonight.”

Chivas came closest to scoring in the first half -- Bolaños hit the base of the right post from 24 yards after stripping the ball from Juninho near midfield in the 34th minute -- and got big back-to-back saves from goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, on Pat Noonan and Kyle Nakazawa, five minutes into the second half -- and got the only goal following a rather odd play.

Oswaldo Minda, returning from a yellow-card suspension, lofted the ball into the Galaxy goalmouth, and goalkeeper Brian Perk leapt over Agudelo to knock the ball away. As both crumpled to the ground, it fell to Correa, who volleyed sharply past A.J. DeLaGarza and at former Chivas defender David Junior Lopes, who was standing on the goal line.

The ball caromed off Lopes' left arm. Referee Mark Geiger showed him the red carded and gave Chivas the spot kick.

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CARSON -- Things always are a little more intense around Home Depot Center when the SuperClasico nears, but given all that's occurred this week -- on both sides -- Saturday night's showdown might provide a respite from all the madness. Imagine that.

Ninety minutes on a patch of green, no matter how heated the atmosphere, has to be simpler than everything the Galaxy and Chivas USA are going through, what with middling form, poor results, blockbuster trades, White House visits, international call-ups and the biggest star in town's jaunts across Europe carrying a flame.

It has made for hectic preparations for a match that, rivalry aside, is vital for both teams. The Galaxy are 3-5-2, have already matched last year's loss total and are looking to end a four-game winless streak while buoyed by their performance of the second half of last week's 1-1 tie at Montreal.


Chivas is 3-6-1, has scored just six goals in 10 games, given away five points by conceding end-of-game goals, and is 0-5-0 in home matches with just one goal, on a penalty kick. The Goats are the home team for the first of three meetings this season.

“It's a little different than in some years past, because we're both struggling a little bit,” Galaxy captain Landon Donovan noted. “So there's probably added meaning in that way, because we both need the points.”

L.A., a preseason favorite to repeat as champion, has only 11 points, 15 behind Western Conference (and Supporters' Shield) leader Real Salt Lake and 11 out of third place. Chivas is only a point behind, but it's also only a point out of the Western cellar.

“It's an important game in a number of ways,” Chivas coach Robin Fraser said. “Both teams are definitely looking for points. It's the rivalry, it's where we are in the table. There's a lot riding on this game.”

Fraser and the Chivas technical staff has been working overtime this week, engineering a pair of trades that, together, offer a major statement of purpose. They brought in 19-year-old striker Juan Agudelo, the most prized young player in America, and then to replace defender Heath Pearce -- who went to New York for Agudelo -- they acquired veteran center back Danny Califf from Philadelphia (for winger Michael Lahoud). It appears to be a move forward up front and in the back.

It will be the first Clasico for Califf, who spent his first five seasons with the Galaxy but was gone before Chivas debuted. First Clasico on the Goats side for his former L.A. teammate, former Galaxy captain Peter Vagenas, too.

“I peaked my head in [the Galaxy locker room] today and told them I'm excited,” said Vagenas, who signed with Chivas during preseason. “This is obviously a special game for me. I've never hidden my emotion for the [Galaxy] and everything that goes on there, but nobody wants to beat the Galaxy more than I do Saturday night.”

If Chivas pulls it out, there will be blame to go around.

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The Galaxy, its White House visit now a warm memory, and Chivas USA, still making sense of an is-it-done-or-not trade for Danny Califf, have a big date this weekend: the first of three SuperClasico meetings at Home Depot Center.

That's the focus for everyone, except David Beckham.

The English star has Olympic duty to complete first, so he'll miss training Thursday and the news conference home team Chivas is trying to put together for Friday to help deliver to the U.K. the Olympic flame.

Beckham, who played an ambassadorial role as London pursued the 2012 Summer Games, has traveled to Athens, Greece, to join dignitaries for a torch handoff ceremony Thursday. He will join other Olympic officials, including Princess Anne, in flying the torch to Britain on Friday. A 70-day relay involving some 8,000 people will carry the flame from Cornwall, in the south of England, to the Shetland Islands, off Scotland's north coast.

Beckham, whose jaunt was unveiled Wednesday, will then fly home to Los Angeles for Saturday's game against the Goats. It's the first of three games in eight days for the Galaxy, and he rarely plays in all three matches in such situation, so he could be held out of the Chivas match after so much travel. He has played following long trips before, and if he was going to miss a match in the tight span, the May 26 clash at Houston seems likeliest.

President Obama teased David Beckham and Robbie Keane, recognized Landon Donovan as someone “who has done more for American soccer than just about anybody” and praised the Galaxy for having “lived up to hype” as he honored the MLS Cup champions Tuesday at the White House.

The president's rollicking address, which betrayed more than a passing knowledge of the game and the team, offered a nice respite for the struggling champions, who are 3-5-2 and haven't won in their last four games.

Instead, the focus was on last year, when the Galaxy romped to Major League Soccer's Supporters' Shield, setting a post-shootout era points record in the process, and swept through the playoffs to win their third MLS Cup title, to go with their 2002 and 2005 triumphs.

“It's an amazing tradition to have, for teams to be able to come here," Beckham told media covering the event. "Because you come out meeting the president, and it's motivation -- it motivates you to want to come back next year. I hope we do, because it's a great day, a proud day for all of us.”

Obama regaled a gathering in the East Room -- moved from the South Lawn because of a thundershower threat -- with jokes at the expense of L.A.'s two biggest foreign stars, recounted their title triumph last Nov. 20 over the Houston Dynamo, and applauded head coach Bruce Arena for taking the Galaxy “from worst to first in just four years.”

“The truth is, in America, most professional soccer players have the luxury of being able to walk around without being recognized,” the president noted. “But not these guys. This is the Miami Heat of soccer. And together, they represent one of the most talented lineups that MLS has ever seen.”

“It makes you realize that people care, people take notice,” Donovan said afterward. “At the end of the day, we’re just playing a soccer game, so I get it, there are a lot more important things going on in the world. But it’s still cool to know that you inspire people and people care about what you’re doing.”

The Galaxy ate it up on an emotional afternoon that featured a brief reunion with goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who is in MLS's substance-abuse treatment program and had been away from the team since April 27.

“It was very nice to see Josh,” Donovan said. “We're all very much encouraged to see him and see how he's doing. I know it was a big deal for him, and I think we're all really excited that he could be a part of it.”

Several figures on last year's championship team weren't invited to be part of the ceremony. Only current Galaxy players and coaches who were with the club in 2011 were honored -- newcomers sat with the audience -- and not everybody was pleased about that.

Midfielder Chris Birchall, so key in the second-leg victory over New York in the first round of the playoffs but now with the Columbus Crew, took to his Twitter account to express his unhappiness Thursday night, also mentioning retired defender Frankie Hejduk, who is now with Columbus' front office.

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Here is a transcript of President Obama's remarks Tuesday at the White House honoring the Galaxy's MLS Cup championship:

“Thank you. (Applause.) Everybody, please have a seat. Have a seat. Well, welcome to the White House, everybody. And congratulations to the L.A. Galaxy on your third MLS Cup. (Applause.) Number three.

“Before we start, I want to acknowledge an L.A. native and my outstanding secretary of Labor -- I don't know how her game is, but she's a fan. Hilda Solis is here. (Applause.) We’ve got some proud members of the California delegation, the House of Representatives who are here. We're thrilled to have them.

“I’m not going to flatter myself by assuming these cameras are for me. (Laughter.) I want to thank the Galaxy for letting me share in the spotlight. (Laughter.) The truth is, in America, most professional soccer players have the luxury of being able to walk around without being recognized. But not these guys. This is the Miami Heat of soccer. (Laughter.) And together, they represent one of the most talented lineups that MLS has ever seen.

“You’ve got Robbie Keane, all-time leading scorer of the Irish national team. (Applause.) Cousin of mine. (Laughter.) Robbie arrived halfway through last season, scored his first goal in the first 21 minutes of his first game. His teammates were so happy to have him that they filled his locker with what they called the “pleasures of Ireland” -- Guinness, Bailey’s, and Irish Spring. (Laughter.) Hopefully, Robbie has broadened their horizons a little bit since then.

“We also have a young up-and-comer on the team, a guy named David Beckham. (Laughter.) I have to say I gave David a hard time -- I said half his teammates could be his kids. (Laughter.) We're getting old, David. Although you're holding up better than me. (Laughter.)

“Last year, at the age of 36, David had his best year in MLS, leading the team with 15 assists. He did it despite fracturing his spine halfway through the season, injuring his hamstring the week before the championship game. He is tough. In fact, it is a rare man who can be that tough on the field and also have his own line of underwear. (Laughter.) David Beckham is that man. (Laughter.)

“And then there’s the captain, Landon Donovan (applause) who has done more for American soccer than just about anybody. Landon’s eye for the net, his will to win are legendary, and once again, he stepped up when his teammates needed him most.

“After going undefeated at home last season, the Galaxy was struggling in the cold and rainy championship match. But then, in the 72nd minute, David headed the ball to Robbie, who made a perfect pass to Landon, who chipped in the game-winner. And that set off an all-night celebration in L.A. -- although my understanding is that David had to get up for carpool duty at 8 a.m. (laughter), so his day was ending a little early.

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The Galaxy are giddy over what awaits them Tuesday, even those who've experienced this sort of thing before. Like A.J. DeLaGarza.

The fourth-year defender was honored at the White House in 2005, after his University of Maryland soccer team won an NCAA championship. Tuesday's visit with President Obama, to fête L.A.'s MLS Cup championship last fall, will be even better, he says.

“Not a lot of people get to do this, meet the president of the United States,” DeLaGarza, who grew up in nearby Bryans Road, Md, said in audio the Galaxy made available to ESPN Los Angeles. “I was fortunate enough my freshman year at college to meet [George W.] Bush with all the other teams that won [collegiate] national championships in the fall that year. ... This is a little bit more special than my college experience, because I was sharing with hundreds of student-athletes, but this is just L.A. Galaxy, so it's special.

“It's a great experience, something we'll never forget.”

The Galaxy arrived in Washington following its 1-1 draw Saturday afternoon at Montreal, and the players who didn't travel, along with some of the club's staff, joined the group Monday. Goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who is away from the team in Major League Soccer's substance-abuse treatment program, will join up Tuesday with a “representative from the program” before returning to his treatment facility Tuesday night.

It's enough to take their minds off this weekend's test -- Saturday's SuperClasico against Chivas USA at Home Depot Center -- at least for a few moments.

“To be honored at the White House hits you on so many levels,” said associate head coach Dave Sarachan, who was part of the D.C. United team that visited Bill Clinton in 1999 and was with the U.S. World Cup team that received a phone call from Bush in 2002. “Obviously, one is we're the champions, and having that crown from last year is still a proud moment for the L.A. Galaxy. But clearly the tradition in this country of honoring champions at the White House doesn't come around very often in a coach's career and the players' careers. We're all very humbled and honored for the opportunity.”

Defender Sean Franklin was asked what he planned to tell Barack Obama.

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The Galaxy offered a nice-sized view of what's been going wrong all year and a little of bit of where they want to be, and as bad as they began Saturday's visit to Montreal, they looked very good by the finish.

David Beckham scored on a second-half free kick as L.A. rallied from an early deficit for a 1-1 draw with the Impact, a result that can be considered fortuitous -- the Galaxy deserved absolutely nothing for its first 45 minutes -- or another in a long line of disappointments. Maybe a little of both.

The Galaxy (3-5-2, 11 points) might have scored four or five goals if not for the presence of their former goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who made huge diving stops on Landon Donovan and Marcelo Sarvas and shined in a quick sequence to deny Donovan and Robbie Keane to reward the Impact (3-5-3, 12 points) with a point.

“I think [we] played well in the second half, and I think the difference in the game was probably Ricketts, came up with some big saves for Montreal to keep them in the game,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said on the club's television broadcast. “I thought the way our guys went out in the second half and got after it and got the ball on the ground and started passing and moving, we were a different team.”

Might it be, finally, the stride forward that starts L.A. on the expected path following a horrendous first two months to the season marked by muddy, imprecise play, defensive miscues and struggles to match foes' intensity in battle?

“After the second half, yeah, I believe it is,” Beckham said on the Galaxy telecast. “Just because we worked hard. We're going through a tough time at the moment, where we're not getting the results, we're not getting the run of the green. But I think we've got character. We've got a lot of pride. I think we showed that in the second half, and we played a lot better. Hopefully, we can push on from here.”

The first half was a reminder of how bad things have been. The Galaxy, the numbers say, had a lot more of the ball, they just couldn't do anything with it. Montreal dominated the duels, continually built toward L.A.'s box and was in charge almost from the start, after Davy Arnaud delivered just eight minutes in.

It was another defensive error, or a couple of them, that led to the goal. Dan Keat, whom L.A. is converting from holding midfielder to central defender, got his chance in the middle -- it was his second first-team appearance this year and just his second MLS start in all -- and it didn't go smoothly.

Keat was caught flat-footed when A.J. DeLaGarza failed to adequately deal with a long ball from Impact defender Nelson Rivas, which bounced to Arnaud, who with just a couple of touches was past the New Zealander and honing in 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Brian Perk, an unexpected starter, who hesitated coming off his line. Arnaud's finish was precise.

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