New Pan-Pacific Cup Planned for Galaxy, Beckham
Friday, November 30th, 2007 by Dina Ely
MLS issued a press release yesterday revealing the league will partner with the Japanese J.League and Australian A-League in a Pan-Pacific cup in February, 2008. Four teams from the leagues will participate. J.League winner Gamba Osaka and an as-yet unknown A-League team will face MLS teams Houston Dynamo, current MLS champion, and LA Galaxy, a SuperLiga finalist.
The announcement comes on the heels of the A-League and MLS friendly between Sydney FC and LA Galaxy this week - a match which was, at times, decidedly unfriendly. A number of rough challenges and several verbal rows underscored that even with an ocean between them, the two leagues can ignite fierce competition. A-League fans have lashed out with particular venom at Galaxy player Kevin Harmse, who was sent off for two yellow card offenses, one of which was standing on the arm of an opposing player in supposed retaliation for a prior tackle on David Beckham.
Beckham emerged from the game as a fan favorite after scoring one of his famous free kicks and playing a lively 90 minutes before a crowd of over 80,000. The Galaxy continue their Australasian A-League tour with an exhibition match against Wellington Phoenix FC in New Zealand tonight.
The Pan-Pacific Championship will unite some of the biggest stars in American and Asian soccer. LA Galaxy feature a high-profile roster including Beckham and MLS all-star Landon Donovan. Gamba Osaka, this year’s Yamazaki Nabisco Cup winner, have Japanese soccer superstars Michihiro Yasuda and Yasuhito Endo.
The first of the two-day competition will begin on February 20th with two matches: Galaxy vs. Gamba Osaka and Dynamo vs. the Australian team. The day’s winners will compete for the cup on February 23rd; the losers will compete for third place on the same day.
The tournament will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dong Quinn, president of the event’s organizer Soccer United Marketing, said, “Honolulu was selected as the host not only for its geographical location in the center of the Pan-Pacific, but also for its community, its terrific infrastructure and its history of hosting top international sporting events.”
When questioned about the cup Beckham expressed his excitement and revealed he’s never visited Hawaii before. “It’s good for the team to start off our preseason playing against quality opposition,” he added. With the MLS break substantially longer than rests he’s experienced on European sides Beckham faces a long spell with no matches, something he openly rues. The Pan-Pacific cup is one step closer to populating the Galaxy’s off-season schedule. For a team whose horrible injury spell prevented them from playing together as a unit for most of their 2007 MLS season, every match is valuable practice for the year to come.
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