Beckham sits it out as Galaxy win

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- David Beckham, as had been widely expected, was ruled out of the Los Angeles Galaxy's SuperLiga match against Mexican side Pachuca on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old England midfielder has been struggling to shake off a lingering ankle injury and Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop says he needs more time to recover.

"He's still injured and the more that we can get him ready to play the full 90 minutes the better we are," Yallop told reporters after the Galaxy beat Pachuca 2-1.

"We had a good chat yesterday and I said to him there's no pressure to play until he's ready because he doesn't want to play when he doesn't play well.

"And I think that's important for him, to not come out and show badly. He wants to come out and be ready to go and really play well for this team."

Asked whether Beckham would be considered for Galaxy's SuperLiga match against Chivas de Guadalajara at LA Coliseum on Saturday, Yallop replied: "I don't know.

"He's a little bit ahead of where he was a couple of days but why risk it? Another bang on the ankle and he's back to square one.

"We want to make sure he's going to be committed and 100 percent before he actually plays."

Beckham, accompanied by his mother, sister and two of his three sons -- Romeo, four, and Cruz, two-years old -- watched Tuesday's match from a hospitality suite.

Signed from Real Madrid on a $32.5 million five-year deal, Beckham was on the field for only 12 minutes, plus four minutes of stoppage time, for his Galaxy debut against FA Cup holders Chelsea on Saturday.

Since his arrival in Los Angeles 12 days ago, he has not been able to train with the Major League Soccer (MLS) team, mainly spending time in the treatment room and the gym.

"He's getting normal ice treatment and a lot of massage to try and get the swelling down," Yallop added.

Beckham twisted his ankle playing for his country against Estonia in a Euro 2008 qualifying match last month. He aggravated it in his final appearance for Real 11 days later when his former team clinched the Spanish league title.

Tuesday's match was the Galaxy's first in the inaugural SuperLiga, an eight-team competition featuring four MLS sides from the U.S. and four teams from the Mexican first division. E-mail to a friend

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