The Galaxy had three games in the span of eight days, against rivals who did well to keep them under wraps.
However, none of the matches served as anything more than a speed bump. The Galaxy beat New England 1-0 at Gillette Stadium on Saturday as the club picked up its third win in one week and fourth straight overall.
WATCH: Full Match Highlights
“It just goes to shows how hard this team works and we’re just very committed to getting the proper rest,” Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez said. “I mean, this is the third time that we do three games in one week and I think that getting nine points in three games is just incredible for us. Moving forward, it’s just a big confidence boost.”
The Galaxy beat Chivas USA, Houston and now New England by the same 1-0 scoreline. While the two previous goals were scored off set pieces – Landon Donovan’s goal against Houston was a spot kick – Saturday’s came from open play. Beckham swung in a cross to the middle of the penalty area that Miguel Lopez got to and headed into the back of the net.
It wasn’t just Beckham or Lopez, though, who responded with standout performances.
“A lot of guys made a lot of big plays,” Galaxy captain Landon Donovan said. “AJ (DeLaGarza) made a big play before that. We put ourselves in positions on both sides of the field to make plays. Miguel (Lopez) made a great play to score the goal and other guys made great plays to ensure that we got the result.”
For Beckham, the match was his third of the week as well - but he squeezed in a different kind of match midweek. Beckham played 90 minutes in Gary Neville’s testimonial match in Manchester on Tuesday.
Even though he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and back to the East Coast, Beckham performed when he needed to.
“I thought David played well. He was a little fatigued from his travel,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “He managed to find 90-plus minutes in a testimonial game - which shouldn’t help matters - but his ankle got tweaked a little bit. But he did a good job passing the ball and obviously a very good ball for Lopez’s goal.”
“I didn’t feel fatigued at all,” Beckham said. “I’ve rested well since I’ve been back and I was ready to play and I think we proved that. I think we passed the ball around well tonight. We played the best soccer in the 90 minutes and we deserved to win.”
On the game’s only goal, Galaxy players knocked the ball around before Beckham got the ball on the right flank and swung the ball into the penalty area. Lopez re-directed the ball past Matt Reis.
“I received the ball in a good position and I obviously put the ball in a good position [with] Miguel running into that front post area,” Beckham said. “He’s made my ball a good one. I think we deserved it, overall. I think we had a lot of chances, so we’re happy.”
The hosts did not go down without a fight, but the Galaxy closed out the match with the Revs knocking on the doorstep. And while Galaxy players said they felt they may have deserved more, they were content with leaving Gillette Stadium with three points.
“It was a great result for us,” Donovan said. “We had a really challenging week, playing against a team that was rested and waiting for us. I thought our effort was great. I thought we were a little bit better and if Reis didn’t have the night he had, maybe we would’ve scored a bit more. But we’re happy with it.”
