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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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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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No David Beckham. No Robbie Keane. No Todd Dunivant. No Josh Saunders. Two more starters on the bench. Only two first-team players in their favored spots.

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena sure did rotate his lineup for Wednesday night's Major League Soccer showdown in Seattle, and it showed. L.A. never really challenged the Sounders in a 2-0 defeat, struggling to get a grip on CenturyLink Field's artificial surface and paying a heavy price for some rather passive defending.

Eddie Johnson scored on a header just before halftime and Fredy Montero sent a 35-yard riser into the upper-left corner at the start of the second half as Seattle (5-1-1) beat the Galaxy for the first time at home in MLS play before a full house of 39,002, second-best in the league this year.

“Give Seattle credit. In a span of about eight minutes, we lost the game,” Arena told media in Seattle after the game. “We would have liked to go into halftime even and put a little pressure on them after the half, but we weren’t able to do it. ... We technically weren't good. Our guys struggled on the turf to get any kind of crosses in front of the goal. We weren't able to get any shots on the fame. It results in us not really being able to test their goalkeeper.”

The Galaxy (3-4-1), who didn't drop their fourth game last year until October, were playing the second of a three-games-in-eight-days set, and Arena -- mindful of the hated turf -- left home over-30s Beckham, Keane and Dunivant in advance of Saturday's game at Home Depot Center against New York. Saunders is missing for “personal reasons,” reportedly a stint in MLS's substance abuse treatment program.

Mike Magee and Edson Buddle started on the bench, Sean Franklin moved into midfield, Marcelo Sarvas took Beckham's spot, and Arena gave rookie Bryan Gaul his MLS debut at left back, with right back Bryan Jordan and striker Adam Cristman making their first starts of the year. Bill Gaudette was back in the nets with another superb showing.

“I think it's a difficult week with the travel and playing on this surface,” Arena said. “We wanted to keep some players fresh for the game on Saturday. That’s the decision I made. We didn’t think we were going to be able to play eleven players in three games, and we had to rotate some players. It made sense to me to have those players available on Saturday.”

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Could it possibly just be that the Galaxy isn't very good?

It's something worthy of consideration following their latest defeat, a 1-0 decision Saturday afternoon to a vastly superior Sporting Kansas City side, in which L.A.'s vaunted attack -- missing David Beckham, yes -- created nearly nothing against Major League Soccer's new standard-bearer.

It was an improvement over last weekend's loss to New England, in that the Galaxy was tight at the back and made K.C. work for its every opportunity, but hardly the stuff championship runs are made of.

Lawndale's Kei Kamara scored the only goal, [click the link to view a nice video feature on Kamara] and he should have had another, as Sporting became the first MLS club since the Galaxy in 1996 to start a campaign with five straight victories. The ex-Wizards dictated nearly every facet of the match, stringing passes together, opening space through possession and direct play, pressuring the Galaxy all over the field while denying them anything in midfield.

L.A. (1-3-0) got off just four shots, none on target -- K.C. has conceded only one or no shots on goal in four of its five wins -- and completed an abysmal 62 percent of its passes, a number that declined as it increasingly utilized Route 1 trying to get back into the game in the countdown to 90.

One team was outstanding, and that team wasn't the Galaxy.

“We came to compete today, but I don’t remember us connecting five passes in a row,” Galaxy midfielder Mike Magee told media afterward. “Sporting Kansas City played at a high level today. They’ve got some amazing players, and some good guys coming off the bench. … They’re a big, fast, athletic team. They’re getting hungrier and hungrier the more they win. They aren’t a team I’d like to play every day.”

The Galaxy lost most of the battles, seemed to lose every second ball, and struggled to keep the plot, goalkeeper Josh Saunders and striker Robbie Keane aside. Edson Buddle was a step or two slow and never really got involved -- Chad Barrett's entrance in the 56th minute sparked some life in L.A.'s offense -- and poor showings by Juninho in central midfield and right back Sean Franklin hurt as Kansas City, fueled with superb showings by Kamara and fellow winger Bobby Convey, dominant front man C.J. Sapong, central midfielders Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza, and center back Aurelien Collin, scored a triumph far more one-sided than the score suggests.

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CARSON -- The best news the Galaxy could hope for cropped up Sunday afternoon on Twitter.

“Great news!!!” defender Omar Gonzalez tweeted. “Rehab has been going so well that they moved up my return date: May 1st! #omarscomin' #ballin'”

Remember what day it is.

The Galaxy wishes Gonzalez could come back, good as new, a month from now, but it will likely be late summer at the soonest that the big center back, rehabilitating a torn anterior cruciate ligament, again steps onto the field.

Until then, who knows what happens. Gonzalez's tweet was a cruel joke: L.A. is in crisis without Major League Soccer's reigning Defender of the Year, as Saturday night's 3-1 loss to the New England Revolution so graphically illustrated.

The Galaxy won the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup titles last year for several reasons, but the biggest was how well they defended all over the field. They've shown little ability to do so without Gonzalez, bleeding goals during preseason and conceding 11 already in five competitive matches. L.A. needed 11 games to surrender 11 last year, and four of those came in the debacle at Real Salt Lake.

“What's different is that we're not scoring and we're not keeping the ball out of our nets,” said center back A.J. DeLaGarza, whose failure to deal with Kelyn Rowe on New England's 10th-minute opener started the Galaxy toward their third loss in four Home Depot Center matches this year. “On both sides of the ball, we’re not clicking. They had three crosses and they had three goals, so that’s unacceptable and is something that we’ve been working on in practice over the last two weeks, 'cause we know we haven’t done well in the first 3-4 games. But today, it didn’t pay off.”

The Galaxy was utterly, curiously listless against the Revs, showing none of the spirit and little of the advertised advances they've made in their game in the two weeks since their lone victory in five games, over D.C. United. The interim was supposed to correct the problems exploited by Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal and by Real Salt Lake in the MLS opener.

“Two weeks off, 10 days off, six weeks -- it doesn't really matter,” said forward Robbie Keane, the Galaxy's captain in Landon Donovan's absence (because of a quadriceps strain). “Regardless of two weeks. If you have two weeks off or three days off or two days off, we shouldn't be conceding goals the way we've been conceding them. We have to rectify that, and we have to rectify that very, very quickly, because the goals we've been conceding are very, very similar to previous games.”

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CARSON -- Bruce Arena figured he'd made a mistake almost from the start. The fatigue in his team, most of which had gone the distance three nights earlier in a more vital match at Toronto, was evident, the opponent was good, and he had only three substitutions in his arsenal.

With sharper play in front, the Galaxy might have been ahead by three or four goals, perhaps more, by the time they finally struck, with about 20 minutes to go. Not two minutes later, Real Salt Lake had pulled even, and then things fell apart.

Arena took the blame for Saturday night's 3-1 loss in L.A.'s Major League Soccer opener, a defeat that ended a 25-match Home Depot Center unbeaten streak, spoiled a celebratory occasion -- with the club unveiling banners commemorating last year's MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield triumphs -- and revealed weakness where there was none in its championship campaign.

Sean Franklin's 73rd-minute own goal, off a dipping, spinning cross by Sebastian Velasquez, was followed in quick succession by goals from Javier Morales and Fabian Espindola as the Galaxy, so good at killing games the past three years, crumpled at the finish.

“We were obviously a tired team tonight,” Arena said after L.A. dropped its first opener since 2007, when Frank Yallop was in charge. “I think we still could have won this game, and I think this game is on me. It's my fault. I should have used fresher bodies. We hit the wall and made mistakes attributable to fatigue.

“I think the travel [to and from Toronto] and two games this week added up to being a pretty tired team over the last 20 minutes, and it cost us the game, and I take full responsibility for that.”

Arena's sin? Not rotating his lineup nearly enough from the side he sent out for Wednesday night's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg in Toronto. The Galaxy rallied for a 2-2 draw in that game, and nine of the players who went the full 90 on Rogers Centre's artificial turf were given another full 90 against RSL.

“This time of year,” Arena conceded, “players aren't fit enough to be playing that much.”

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CARSON -- Three quick thoughts from the Galaxy's 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night in their Major League Soccer opener at Home Depot Center:

1. GIVING AWAY LEADS
Everything was going the Galaxy's way until their dominance paid off in the 71st minute with Edson Buddle's header -- from a glorious David Beckham cross, naturally -- for a 1-0 lead. RSL equalized inside of two minutes, on Sean Franklin's unfortunate own goal, Javier Morales netted the heads-up, go-ahead strike seven minutes later (after Michael Stephens stepped in to prevent Alvaro Saborio from firing home), and Fabian Espindola caught the Galaxy pushed forward for a third goal in the 85th.

Defense is the big if for the Galaxy this year, and the way things fell apart at the end doesn't bode well. Boos sent L.A. from the field when it was over, the 25-game HDC unbeaten streak (in all games) dead.

2. THE CROSSBAR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
The Galaxy had at least a half-dozen impeccable scoring opportunities but were thwarted by so many things: Beckham's early lack of sharpness on set plays (weakly rolling one close-range free kick, putting another into the RSL wall), Robbie Keane's slowness in pulling the trigger (several times, most dramatically after a great Landon Donovan feed to the top of the box in the 62nd), and Nick Rimando's play in the nets.

The crossbar was no help, either. Donovan chipped and volleyed a ball from Buddle off the bar in the 27th minute and Marcelo Sarvas rocketed off the woodwork from 35 yards just before halftime. If either falls, or both, the Galaxy take three points.

3. NOT MUCH ROTATION
Beckham played 90 minutes, just three nights after a grueling encounter on that hated fake turf. So did Donovan, Keane, Buddle … in all, nine starters from Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League draw at Toronto FC were in the Galaxy's XI, not nearly as much rotation as expected with the second leg against the Canadians next week.

Tommy Meyer, the first-round pick out of Indiana, got the start next to A.J. DeLaGarza in central defense, stepping in for Andrew Boyens. The rookie looked rather like a veteran in his official pro debut as the Galaxy's defense did a nice impression of 2011, at least until the own goal. It all went wrong after that.

Even better was Sarvas, making his Galaxy debut, starting in place of Juninho. He was energetic and inventive next to Beckham and nearly had a spectacular goal before departing in the 69th minute for Juni.

CARSON -- Things aren't particularly complicated with the Galaxy. They're expected to win, and anything less isn't acceptable, not after three straight Western Conference titles, back-to-back Supporters' Shields and last November's triumph in the MLS Cup title game.

The aim is the same and the side -- on paper, at least -- appears superior in every way except one, maybe two, with the returns of striker Edson Buddle and central midfielders David Beckham and Juninho, the additions of Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Sarvas and a few more veterans, plus the experience Robbie Keane gained in his first go-round in this most different and difficult of leagues.

Major League Soccer's hardware is again there for the taking, but the added firepower up front can't mask the big hole at the back. Backline leader Omar Gonzalez, the tall, terrific Texan who deservedly won the league's Defender of the Year honor in 2011, is out until at least September because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and effectively replacing him likely will be the cardinal determiner in whether this year's group can be as successful as last year's.

The mission, says Beckham, “hasn't changed. We want to be champion at the end of this season like we were last season. … You always have goals. You want to better the season before, and to do that, we have to go all the way again.”

The Galaxy went 19-5-10 in last year's regular season, then sprinted to four playoff victories -- capturing the title with a one-sided 1-0 victory over Houston at Home Depot Center -- to cap the club's finest campaign with its third MLS Cup championship. Only two teams, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena's D.C. United in 1996-97 and Houston in 2006-07, have repeated.

“It's always tough to keep hold of a championship and retain that. It's going to be no different for us,” Beckham said. “As long as we play our game and work like we did last season, then we have a chance.”

The additions of Buddle, back after a year in Germany, and Sarvas are significant, but other arrivals -- forward Pat Noonan, defender Andrew Boyens, midfielder Kyle Nakazawa and goalkeeper Bill Gaudette -- have added to L.A.'s depth. Buddle and Keane could be the most potent frontline partnership in the league, especially with Beckham's service, Donovan's contributions and right back Sean Franklin's advancing attacking acumen.

“Getting Edson back, there's not many teams that are going to make a better acquisition than that,” Donovan said. “And we were under the impression that we had lost Juninho [in a loan recall by São Paulo], and to get him back is a big plus, too. [We're] not a front six of guys that I would ever want to play against if I was an opposing defender.”

Replacing Gonzalez is key and quite tricky. The would-be replacement, Brazilian Leonardo, is still rehabbing his knee injury from last year. Boyens took the spot next to A.J. DeLaGarza, who must have a huge campaign, in Wednesday night's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Toronto FC. Top draft pick Tommy Meyer will be groomed to replace Gonzalez, who would soon be heading to Europe, injury or no injury.

Solidifying the backline will “be an ongoing challenge,” Arena acknowledges, but that's what must be done, especially with so many competitions -- they're trying to win one Champions League at the moment, and another starts in August -- on a thick schedule.

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Galaxy opponents are afraid to commit fouls anywhere near their box when David Beckham is on the field, for obvious reasons. When he's not, it's no big thing.

After Marcelo Sarvas' piece of brilliance Wednesday night, they might be rethinking that philosophy.

Sarvas, on for Beckham with 25 minutes to go in the Desert Diamond Cup group finale against New York, whistled a free kick from inside the semicircle above the box past Red Bulls rookie goalkeeper Ryan Meara and inside the far post to provide L.A. a real highlight in an otherwise disappointing 2-1 defeat in Tucson, Ariz.

Chad Barrett's return to action, for the first time since brutally dislocating his ankle in the lead up to last November's MLS Cup final, was another plus, as was the effort by Canoga Park's Rafael Garcia -- the Cal State Northridge product making a strong bid for a roster spot on the eve of the league's compliance date.

But Omar Gonzalez's absence continues to loom large for L.A., which is just a week from its season opener and continues to struggle without the big man in the back.

Poor defending led to both New York goals, with Kenny Cooper easily broaching the backline to finish rookie Connor Lade's feed in the 31st minute and Thierry Henry running unhindered from midfield to the box, then playing a give-and-go of sorts with Dane Richards and nodding home the return in the 62nd. Rookie Tommy Meyer has great upside, but he's a rookie; Andrew Boyens, his partner on Wednesday, is a reserve, pure and simple. One of them likely will team with A.J. DeLaGarza in central defense, at least until Leonardo is ready to go, and he'll have not played in a year when he's expected to return to the field in April.

It has to be a concern for L.A., which has just one shutout in eight preseason games -- Saturday's 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake -- and has conceded 17 goals, at least two in six games. The five preseason losses, which matters not a whit, is as many as the Galaxy lost all last year in Major League Soccer play, including the postseason.

The Red Bulls were the superior side most of the night, and their victory would have been more pronounced if not for goalkeeper Josh Saunders' off-his-line stop on Richards, who split Boyens and DeLaGarza to run on to Teemu Tainio's superb through ball midway through the first half.

The Galaxy's best chances were, as usual, product of Beckham's right foot, but Meara -- despite a clumsy performance that betrayed his youth -- took care of the most dangerous moments until Sarvas halved the deficit with 12 minutes to go.

The attack, like the defense, is a work in progress. Landon Donovan has not yet trained fully, and Robbie Keane will join the team in the next couple of days, now that his loan deal with Aston Villa is over and Ireland's friendly Wednesday with the Czech Republic done.

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CARSON -- Juninho arrived over the weekend, trained Monday morning, and then declared he was happy and excited to be back with the Galaxy and felt “very content to return to my second home.”

It's not his first choice, let's be clear. The 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder would rather be running things for São Paulo, the powerhouse that loaned him to L.A. the past two seasons, recalled and re-signed him in December, then decided two weeks ago to loan him out, again, after all.

Unexpected riches for the Galaxy, which knew last summer Juninho probably was headed back to his home club and began the work leading to fellow Brazilian Marcelo Sarvas' December transfer from Alajuelense. Since then, David Beckham re-signed and Edson Buddle returned from Germany -- Juni's addition confirms that Major League Soccer's best defensive club now has the league's finest attacking talent.

More than that, he's a familiar face who knows the landscape -- and, partnering Beckham in he middle, played a pivotal role in the club's successes last season.

“He's come right back in and fit in the second he walked back into the building ...,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “He's a very good player for us, no question about it. He scored a few timely goals, played a number of games, understands his role, complemented David Beckham quite well. I think his year, with the addition of Marcelo, we have potentially a very good midfield.”

Juninho says he is impressed with the new players he sees in camp.

“Very good players -- smart, intelligent. I think is better for us,” he said, alternating between much improved English and Spanish through assistant coach Curt Onalfo's translation. “We'll be stronger and we'll have good competition [within the team]. Edson's a very good player, and Sarvas. David will stay for two more years, and and Landon stays also. I think the Galaxy has a very good team.”

The Galaxy certainly was happy to have Juninho back on the field, and with Landon Donovan back in town -- but not yet in camp -- following a seven-week loan to Everton, the team is starting to come together. L.A. leaves Tuesday for Tucson, Ariz., where it wraps up preseason with four games against MLS foes in the Desert Diamond Classic.

Juninho could be in the lineup in Wednesday's tournament opener against New England.

“I'm feeling [fit], but I think I need to play games,” he said. “I think in Arizona I will have a couple of games. I think I'll play two times, like 45 minutes [each].”

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CARSON -- Sean Franklin took the field, for real, for the first time this year Monday, taking the next and, he hopes, last step in his recovering from knee surgery last fall.

The 2011 All-Star right back from Palmdale (Highland HS) and Cal State Northridge spent the first week of Galaxy preseason running and working to strengthen his right knee, which he hurt last September, more severely than the club let on.

Franklin, 26, in September underwent a previously unacknowledged surgery to clean debris out of the knee, missing five Major League Soccer and four CONCACAF Champions League matches before returning to action, earlier than he probably should have, in L.A.'s regular-season finale. He started all four MLS playoff games and played in all three matches on the club's postseason tour of Asia and Australia.

“I kind of came in slow last week to strengthen my knee more from last year,” Franklin said. “I did some work over the offseason, some physical therapy, and it's getting stronger. It's almost 100 percent. I felt good to get out there, but I feel tired after my first full practice.”

Fitness still is the priority in camp -- head coach Bruce Arena says it will be until just before the season begins in early March -- but the Galaxy filtered more game-playing situations among the running. It's the first real soccer Franklin has played since the season ended Dec. 6 in Melbourne.

“It's good to have him back on the field,” Arena said. “We didn't give him enough time last year to really come back at 100 percent. We rushed him back from his surgery and brought him back a little bit quick. This time we have he time to give him the proper opportunity to work on getting his strength back, and we've done that. We're just being careful with him.”

Franklin, MLS's Rookie of the Year in 2008, said he “normally” would have “waited the season out” after surgery, “but it was the playoffs, and I wanted to play, and that's how it goes. But normally, I would have rested [the knee] longer.”

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Counting down the 11 biggest 2011 stories in Southern California soccer ...

The Galaxy have had some sensational years since they first kicked a ball back in 1996. That inaugural season was something, and '98, too, and '99, the titles in 2002 and '05, the 2009 turnaround.

Nothing like what they experienced in 2011.

L.A. won everything that matters, did everything they sought to do, and they did so in a spotlight that shone more brightly than any had illuminated Major League Soccer's first 15 seasons. They did so with charm, grit and verve through superb efforts by superstars and role players all orchestrated by America's best coach -- Bruce Arena -- doing his best work.

The Galaxy romped to their second straight Supporters' Shield, the regular-season championship, setting a post-shootout era points record with 63 (from a 19-5-10 record), then swept four playoff matches -- with a masterful performance before the home fans to beat Houston in the final -- to claim the franchise's third MLS Cup championship. Through one four-month, 20-game stretch, they lost just one league game.

From August on, they pressed through the best quartet in the CONCACAF Champions League's second stage, capturing the Group A title with dramatic, must-win victories over Mexico's Morelia and at Motagua in Honduras. They'll be big favorites in their quarterfinal series against Toronto FC in March.

They tied an MLS single-season mark with 17 shutouts, with two more in the playoffs and three in the Champions League, despite season-long injury struggles that sidelined nearly every major player at some point and played particular havoc at the back.

The stars came up huge. David Beckham, drawing greater attention in the final season of his five-year contract, was magnificent at the center of the Galaxy's attack. Landon Donovan netted 17 goals in all despite a quad injury that slowed him considerably the final three months of the season. Robbie Keane's August arrival, accompanied by Juan Pablo Angel's departure, provided a quality finisher with great vision and a knack for opening up the tightest spaces.

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The Galaxy got one big postseason mission out of the way Friday, re-signing defender/midfielder Sean Franklin while collecting signatures from three others and exercising an option they previously, but not irrevocably, had declined.

Defender/midfielder Bryan Jordan also re-signed, and the Galaxy wrapped up deals with forward Pat Noonan, whose rights were acquired from Seattle in last week's second-stage re-entry draft, and goalkeeper Nick Noble, who has spent the past two seasons in Sweden.

Also back is forward Adam Cristman, who had pulled out of Major League Soccer's re-entry process after the option on his contract, worth only the league minimum of $42,000 last year (but with a salary boost anticipated), was initially declined.

Franklin (Palmdale/Highland HS and Cal State Northridge), 26, the 2008 MLS Rookie of the Year and an MLS All-Star Game starter last summer, is the big news. He's among the best right backs in MLS and is probably better as a right-sided midfielder, which is where he'll likely play if Landon Donovan is paired with Robbie Keane on L.A.'s forward line.

Jordan (Temple City/Temple City HS), 26, who has been with the Galaxy since 2008, is a backup, primarily as an outside back, who played in 18 first-team and eight MLS Reserve League games last season. Cristman, 26, a big, physical, hard-working forward, scored eight goals in 33 games, including Reserve League, after arriving in a trade last January.

Noonan, 31, was one of four players the Galaxy selected from other rosters during the second-stage draft in the re-entry process. He's scored 46 goals in 10 MLS seasons, but only four in the last five injury-filled campaigns. He played just 259 minutes across nine games with the Sounders last season.

Noble, 27, was Chicago's first-round draft pick in 2007, when Galaxy associate head coach Dave Sarachan was the Fire boss, but he never saw league action before his June 2009 release. He played briefly with the second-tier Austin Aztex before taking off to Sweden, where he's spent the past two seasons, making 59 first-team appearances, at second-division Ljungskile SK.

Noble is the third goalkeeper on the Galaxy roster, joining Josh Saunders and Brian Perk. The Galaxy also selected Jon Conway from Chicago in the second-stage re-entry draft, but Noble's signing might signal that the club, which won't carry more than three netminders, doesn't plan to bring in Conway.

BECKHAM IN DOHA?: Agence France-Presse reports that David Beckham will attend the Qatar ATP Open tennis tournament in Doha right after New Year's and could sign with Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain at that time.

The tournament runs Jan. 2-8 and the president of Qatar's tennis federation is Nasser Al-Kelaifi, who also is president of PSG. Al-Kelaifi heads Qatar Sports Investments, a quasi-governmental outfit that is the French club's primary shareholder.

ELSEWHERE: Other MLS news ...

• Midfielder Baggio Husidic, whom Colorado drafted from Chicago in the second-stage re-entry draft, is former Galaxy defender/assistant coach Gregg Berhalter's first signing with Hammarby in Sweden.
• New England signed midfielder Clyde Simms, which it acquired from D.C. United during the second-stage draft.

Omar Gonzalez, the man most desired by U.S. soccer fans, has made his way onto Jurgen Klinsmann's first January roster.

Teammate Todd Dunivant was snubbed.

Gonzalez, Major League Soccer's Defender of the Year, is joined by Galaxy teammate A.J. DeLaGarza on the 20-man roster, but the fourth Galaxy backliner, Sean Franklin, who was part of the last January camp, also was left home.

Chivas USA defender Heath Pearce, who was on the 2010 World Cup preliminary roster, also is on Klinsmann's list, as are So Cal products Nick Rimando (Montclair/Montclair HS and UCLA), the Real Salt Lake goalkeeper, and Benny Feilhaber (Irvine/Northview HS and UCLA), a New England Revolution midfielder.

The team is missing its Europe-based stars, with just two players (Danish-based defender Michael Parkhurst and 2010 World Cup midfielder Ricardo Clark, who plays in Germany) brought in, both while their clubs are on winter break.

Camp opens Jan. 3 in Phoenix, heads to Home Depot Center from Jan. 13 to 20, then returns to Arizona for the Jan. 21 friendly against Venezuela at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The team then heads to Panama for a Jan. 25 match.

The roster, as always, is filled with mostly younger, lesser-experienced MLS players, and if Gonzalez's inclusion, which was expected, is a positive -- fans and media have clamored for the big Texan's involvement with the national team most of this year -- Dunivant's omission is most curious, given the Americans' deficiencies at left back.

Dunivant, 30, is coming off a sensational MLS Best XI campaign with the Galaxy, and the annual January camp -- at least under Bob Bradley, Klinsmann's predecessor -- usually has rewarded players coming off outstanding MLS seasons.

Klinsmann's philosophy differs from Bradley's in many respects. He's brought in a smaller group -- just 20 players; Bradley had 24 in last January's camp and 30 in 2010 -- and appears to have a sharper concept of what he's looking for.

“We have an internal ranking of players in each position based on how we want to play, and many of these players are next in line,” Klinsmann told U.S. Soccer's website. “The European-based players and the Mexican-based players aren’t available, so this is their shot. Their goal has to be to move ahead of the guy in front of him in their position, and the only way they can do that is to show how good they are.

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The Galaxy's roster for next season is slowly becoming clearer, it appears, and that's not necessarily a good thing. David Beckham might be off for Paris Saint-Germain -- nothing concrete on that yet -- but might L.A. also have to do without Juninho and Omar Gonzalez?


Sambafoot, a website covering Brazilian soccer, reports that Juninho, Beckham's midfield partner for the Galaxy, has signed a three-year contract extension with Sao Paulo FC.

Juninho, 22, spent the past two seasons with the Galaxy on loan from Sao Paulo, and there's no indication that another loan deal can't be done. The Galaxy had been seeking to purchase his contract, and Juninho last month expressed a desire to return to L.A.

“I'm very happy here,” he said a few days after the Galaxy's MLS Cup triumph over Houston. “This is a family right now, and after winning the cup, everybody is happy. I'm very secure here. I have my wife here and a lot of friends.”

Sao Paulo has not announced a deal on its website, and Galaxy coach/general manager Bruce Arena was not available for comment Tuesday.

Gonzalez, 23, the MLS Defender of the Year, has attracted attention in Mexico and in Europe, and Britain's Sky Sports reports that there “is major interest from the [English] Premier League.” Beckham, the report said, has helped, giving rave reviews of the defender in discussions with his contacts in the English game.

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