Just like old times...

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham remembered scoring against current Philadelphia Union goalkeeper and Colombian international Faryd Mondragon.

The year was 1998. The event: the FIFA World Cup in France. As a member of England's national team, Beckham scored on a set piece to beat Mondragon. England went on to win that match 2-0 in what was Becks's first start.

“I wasn’t actually that nervous,” Beckham recalled after practice on Tuesday, according to Larry Morgan of LAGalaxy.com. “I was ready to play in the World Cup. I had prepared myself and I was ready to go. I was excited more than nervous.

“It meant a lot to me that game, scoring my first goal for England, playing in my first World Cup and it was my mum’s birthday. It was kind of special in many ways. It was a good day.”

Mondragon, now the team captain for the Union, remembered the day so well.

“I remember it was the third game of the group, and we needed a draw or a win to advance and England needed to win,” Mondragon recalled. “And, well, we were down 1-0 and around the 30-minute mark there was a free kick from about 27 or 30 meters and, well, Beckham kicked the ball, it went over the wall and went in just inside the post to my right."

“I still see it going over the wall and knowing I hit it that well,” Beckham said of the goal. “I just remember him diving for it and it going in. I remember the celebration with Sol Campbell coming from behind, jumping on my back and almost breaking my back. It was a good one.”

Seven years later, in a friendly between England and Colombia at Giants Stadium on May 31, 2005, Beckham and the Three Lions bested Mondragon and Company again to the tune of 3-2.

“I’ll have great memories from seeing him,” Beckham said of Mondragon. “It’s nice to be going up against him and hopefully I can do it again."

When asked of the opportunity to hit on a set piece from a similar spot, Beckham kept mum on the details.

“I’m not going to tell you the spot I’ll go, and I’m not going to tell him the spot I’m going to go,” Beckham said. “I’ll try and score. It would be nice.”


The unflappable Todd Dunivant

Defender Todd Dunivant has been bouncing back from a sports hernia issue last season and is flourishing in the left back position.

“[The injury] affected me for about two-thirds of the season last year and I just kind of played through it,” said Dunivantto Luis Bueno of MLSSoccer.com. “There were some good weeks, some bad.

“I took an MRI at the end of the year and the initial results weren’t very conclusive, so we didn’t want to do surgery if we weren’t sure. We gave it three weeks to kind of settle down and rest. I went out and tested it a little bit and it was worse. At that point we knew we had to do something.”

No need to have it fixed in Europe when there are local options, Dunivant says.

“Why outsource it when you can do it here?” Dunivant said. “I’d rather do it in Santa Monica if I can.”

After getting surgery near the start of the 2011, Dunivant missed three training sessions before reaching match fitness earlier this month.

“I’ve had preseasons before where I’ve been in national team camp and sometimes you can burn out that way as well,” Dunivant said. “I don’t mind peaking right before the season than in late January.”


Optimism for Arena

Bruce Arena is hopeful that the Galaxy will bother to bring their A-game on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union.

“Believe me, it’s not going to linger,” Arena told MLSSoccer.com's Luis Bueno. “It’s over with now. Now we’re getting on the business of getting the team a little bit better, hopefully getting some guys back.

“We just did not play well. None of our guys had a good game. That’s pretty obvious.”

"You view whatever mistakes you made and put it in the file cabinet," said central defender A.J. DeLaGarza. "My old college coach [University of Maryland Terrapins head coach Sasho Cirovski] used to say that. You’ve got to learn from it and do better the next time. Thankfully we have a game on Saturday here in front of our fans and hopefully we can come out better than we have.

“Our starting 11 is really guys who have been here. There are no excuses for what happened, and we’ve got to take it upon ourselves to do better.”

Arena is hoping that goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts will be in shape for Saturday's contest, although it's possible Josh Saunders could be earning his fourth start this year in as many games.

“He’s close,” Arena said of Ricketts. “He’s training now. He’ll be back in the near future. When? I can’t exactly promise you at this point but he’ll be back.”

On Wednesday, the whole team discussed the performance on Saturday and, to say the least, were still fuming about their lack of effort that they put upon themselves.

“It’s been too many times this season… and to the end of last season, that we’re conceding (a goal) in the first 10 minutes. It’s crazy, really,” midfielder Chris Birchall said. “We have to sort it out.”

“The last two games we’ve had a brain fart right at the start. We have to get that right and take it from there,” said forward Bryan Jordan.

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