Galaxy, Chivas USA set to open training camps

Newly re-signed midfielder David Beckham is expected to join 15 Galaxy teammates for physical and other testing Saturday before leading Major League Soccer's defending champions in their first workouts of  preseason training camp Monday at the Home Depot Center.

Beckham, who announced Thursday he had reached agreement on a two-year, $15-million deal with the Galaxy, will be attending the start of training camp for the first time in his six years with the team.

Coach Bruce Arena said the team will spend the first week of camp concentrating on fitness training before taking the field on Jan. 30.

Chivas USA, which shares the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy, will open its training camp Monday in Oxnard.

However both teams will be without several key players for most of the training period. Among those missing from the Galaxy camp are Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, A.J.De La Garza, Brian Perk and Michael Stephens, who are playing either intentionally with a U.S. national team or overseas on loan.

Among the players on the Chivas roster likely to miss the start of training are defender Heath Pearce, who is with the U.S. national team, Jorge Villafana, who has been playing with the U.S. U-23 team, as well as midfielders Miller Bolanos and Oswaldo Minda and defender David Junior Lopes, who are waiting for immigration documents. Bolandos and Minda are from Ecuador; Lopes is Brazilian.

Chivas USA is scheduled to scrimmage the Ventura Fusion on Jan. 27.

The MLS season opens in March.

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Photo: Galaxy midfielder David Beckham looks on during a news conference at Staples Center on Thursday announcing his re-signing with the team. Credit: Joe Klamar / AFP/Getty Images

President Obama congratulates L.A. Galaxy on MLS championship

It has become commonplace for the president to place a congratulatory phone call to professional and college teams when they win a national championship. But apparently it took the first soccer dad in chief a little while longer to get around to calling the Galaxy after the team's 1-0 win over Houston in Major League Soccer's final Nov. 20.

But better later than never.

President Barack Obama spoke Tuesday with Coach Bruce Arena, whose team is on an Asia-Pacific tour, congratulating him on his third MLS title and inviting the team to the White House, according to the president's press secretary. Obama, who played soccer as a boy in Indonesia, also told Arena that the Galaxy's success inspired many young soccer players, including the president's own daughters, Sasha and Malia, who play the sport.

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Photo: Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena celebrates after defeating the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup final on Nov. 20 at the Home Depot Center. Victor Decolongon / Getty Images

Galaxy's David Beckham ready for MLS Cup

The Major League Soccer Cup final on Sunday could be David Beckham's last game in a Galaxy uniform at the Home Depot Center and he doesn't plan on missing it.

So after training Saturday for the first time in three days, Beckham pronounced himself ready despite lingering issues with his back and hamstring.

"I'm feeling good. It was good to be back out there with the guys," said Beckham, who has assisted on goals in each of the Galaxy's three postseason wins. "We're ready as a team.

"My body feels great so it shouldn't be a problem, shouldn't be an issue. Obviously I've had issues with my back all season. But I was able to train today and came through it with no problem. So it's all good."

Beckham, who has been receiving treatment from the team's medical staff, seemed to move easily through a light hourlong practice on the Home Depot field Saturday.

"He's doing fine. He has no problem," Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena said of Beckham. "We're looking forward to playing."

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Photo: David Beckham jogs during a training session with the Galaxy on Saturday at Home Depot Center. Credit: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

You can bank on sick David Beckham playing in MLS Cup final

When midfielder David Beckham was a no-show at the Galaxy's training session Thursday, it piqued the interest of more than one journalist. And Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena had a ready -- if typically acerbic -- answer for the question.

"He’s downtown today," Arena said "I think he’s protesting the banking system in this country."

That would be unlikely given that Beckham, the highest-paid player in MLS, was estimated by Forbes to have made $40 million last year, making him the wealthiest soccer player in the world.

Actually, Arena finally confessed, Beckham was given the morning off with a cold although members of the team said he is resting a hamstring problem.

Asked by a British journalist whether Beckham would play in Sunday's MLS Cup final, Arena said: "I’d even let you answer that question. He played last year in the playoffs with an Achilles that was freshly operated on. David will be on the field Sunday."

The banks, after all, will be closed then.

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Photo: David Beckham. Credit: Bret Hartman / Associated Press.

Galaxy's Bruce Arena named MLS coach of year

Bruce Arena, who coached the Galaxy into Sunday's MLS Cup final, was Monday named Major League Soccer's coach of the year for the third time.

Arena, a former U.S. national team coach and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, is the only man to win the award third times. He also won in 1997 and 2009.

Voting was conducted among clubs, media and players based on regular-season performance. The Seattle Sounders' Sigi Schmid and Sporting Kansas City's Peter Vermes were the other finalists.

Arena's Galaxy finished the regular season 19-5-10, giving it the league's best record for the second consecutive season. The Galaxy also won all three of its playoff matches and is unbeaten at the Home Depot Center this season, which is where the team will play Sunday's MLS Cup against the Houston Dynamo.

Arena will be a head coach in MLS Cup for the fifth time, also a league record.

Arena, in his fourth season as Galaxy head coach, guided a team that earned at least a point in more than 85% of its regular-season games. The Galaxy had 17 shutouts -– or one in half of its regular-season games -- tying the all-time record set by Kansas City in 2000. It also conceded the fewest goals in MLS this season (28) for a goals-against average of 0.82, third all-time behind Real Salt Lake in 2010 (0.67) and Houston Dynamo in 2007 (0.77).

Arena was hired as head coach and general manager of the Galaxy on Aug. 18, 2008. Since then, the Galaxy has gone 51-23-30 in regular-season games.

Before being hired by the Galaxy, Arena served as coach of the New York Red Bulls during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. As the head coach of D.C. United from 1996 through 1998, Arena captured two MLS Cup championships in three appearances. Arena ranks second all-time in MLS regular season wins (128) and has compiled a regular season coaching record of 128-74-40. He holds the highest postseason winning percentage (.742) and is the all-time leader in postseason wins with 21.

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Photo: Bruce Arena. Credit: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images