Familiar Foes to Have New Looks for SuperLiga

CARSON, Calif., Aug. 14 -- D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy will face each other Wednesday night for the second time in less than a week, but few of the circumstances surrounding their first encounter have carried over to the second.

The setting is the immaculate Home Depot Center instead of scruffy RFK Stadium. The match is part of the lucrative SuperLiga tournament, not the often mundane MLS regular season. The weather will be typically warm and dry, not unbearably humid and rainy. Three Galaxy starters, and one of United's, from the first game will have to watch instead of play because of yellow card suspensions.

And unlike last week, when David Beckham's pregame status was as hazy as Washington's summer sky, the English superstar with the ailing left ankle said Tuesday that he could play at least half the match against United.

"It's not perfect yet," said Beckham, who played 21 minutes in his league debut last Thursday at RFK but was not in uniform at New England on Sunday because of soreness. "It still feels unstable to a certain extent, but it feels stable enough to actually play in a game and see how far I can take it."

Said Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop: "He'll be on the field at some point. We're hoping it's a lot of minutes."

Yallop has not ruled out starting Beckham, whose only other appearance for the Galaxy was a 16-minute effort against English club Chelsea last month. But after watching Beckham play an influential second-half role against United in the first meeting, he could wait to see how the match unfolds and then insert him.

Either way, United is expecting Beckham to play on Home Depot Center's grass field. Beckham has been critical of MLS stadiums equipped with artificial turf, describing the toll it takes on a player and the problems it poses for someone recovering from injury. He sat out games at Toronto and New England (both have artificial turf), but played on United's natural field.

"He's desperate to get back out there," Yallop said.

The Galaxy is desperate for his help. With its regular season crumbling, it sees SuperLiga, an inaugural event featuring teams from MLS and the Mexican league, as an opportunity to turn around a dismal summer. The winner of Wednesday's semifinal will advance to the Aug. 29 championship game -- against Pachuca, which defeated the Houston Dynamo, 4-3, on penalty kicks on Tuesday -- and remain in the running for the $1 million prize.

Despite the venue and Beckham's bigger role, United feels good about its chances. While the Galaxy played Sunday on the East Coast to complete a three-game, week-long trip and did not arrive back in California until early Monday, United has not played since Thursday. United will be without suspended defender Marc Burch, but Los Angeles will miss defender Ante Jazic, midfielder-defender Kelly Gray and forward Alan Gordon.

"It's probably a good thing for us," Coach Tom Soehn said of facing the Galaxy again so soon after United's 1-0 victory. "They've had a tough road schedule, so you catch them when they've gone through some travels and start having injuries and suspensions -- it makes it tough for them."

While United's attack continues to waver, goalkeeper Troy Perkins and the defense have found their rhythm. United has not yielded two goals in a game since a 3-3 tie with Dallas on July 14, a span of six games.

"We are starting to do the little things right, and those are carrying over and making a big impact," said Perkins, who has three shutouts in the past four matches.

Other than finding a replacement for Burch, Soehn will have to decide whether to recall team captain Jaime Moreno (back, hamstring) and playmaker Christian Gomez (quadriceps) to the lineup. Moreno played the second half Thursday, but Gomez has sat out two straight matches.

"We're going to continue to push him until he gets to 90 minutes," Soehn said of Moreno. "He's not there yet."

As for Gomez, Soehn added, "He's running around fine, but he hasn't played in a while, so we have to be cautious."