Sydney FC 5-3 LA Galaxy, Olympic Stadium Sydney, 27.11.07
A capacity crowd of 80,000 turned out to see the exhibition tour match between Sydney FC and visitors LA Galaxy, with the majoirty of the focus on England's midfielder David Beckham. The crowd had surely come to witness some drama and skill, and of course some trademark Beckham free kicks and were not disappointed.
This was LA Galaxy's first exhibition tour match outside of North America and the hosts were in no mood to take it easy on their visitors, with Beckham specifically subjected to some strong challenges throughout the first half. With an average attendance of around 15,000, Sydney FC were not just there to make up the numbers and wanted to put on a performance themselves. Striker Alex Brosque socred twice by 26 minutes before Ruben Zadkovich smashed in a shot in the 30th to give the Australian A-League side a convincing 3-0 lead.
But right before half time, a free kick awarded to LA Galaxy was well within Beckham territory. Beckham, who was playing in the new adidas Predator football boots, duly struck the ball up over the wall and bent it into the top corner of the net.
"I was really happy to score tonight because of the amount of fans and the attention that there has been on myself and this game," Beckham said. "It's nice once again to get a free kick - people expect you to do it every time from that position. I practice it enough."
The margin was reduced to 3-2 in the second half as Edson Buddle scored before Robbie Middleby restored a two goal cushion in the 54th minute. Yet the scoring was not over as Ian Fyfe made the most of lapse of concerntration in the Galaxy defence to make it 5-2 before Galaxy replied through USA forward Landon Donovan to finish the game at 5-3. LA Galaxy's next match on the tour is in New Zealand against Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.
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