The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Philippine national men's football team Azkals will face the LA Galaxy led by international football superstar David Beckham tonight in a friendly match at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Despite the pricey tickets, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is expecting a full stadium tonight for the much awaited 2011 Dream Cup.

LA Galaxy, the defending champions of the 2011 Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup arrived in Manila last Friday for the Philippine leg of their Asia-Pacific tour. Their first stop was in Jakarta, Indonesia last November 30. The team will wrap up their post season tour in Melbourne, Australia on December 6 for the Hyundai Melbourne Challenge.

Leading the LA Galaxy tour's roster are MLS Best XI selections David Beckham, Landon Donovan, who was also the MLS Cup MVP, Todd Dunivant, and 2011 MLS Defender of the Year Omar Gonzalez, according to GMANews.tv.

Football icon David Beckham

As part of their Philippine tour, Beckham and his team also held a football clinic for over 200 kids at the Rizal Stadium yesterday. Among those who joined are young football players from the Payatas FC who were sponsored by Azkals team manager Dan Palami.

Spectators also watched the LA Galaxy during their official practice session. Azkal players Ian Araneta, Angel Guirado, Rob Gier and Misagh Bahadoran went to watch their football idols.

The Azkals are also excited to face the champions of the recent Major League Soccer Cup (MLS). Ilonggo striker Chieffy Caligdong said he is ready and excited to play against Beckham. In his Twitter account, Filipino-British James Younghusband said the first thing he said to Beckham was “can we swap shirts after the game?” Fil-Am midfielder Chris Greatwich will also rejoin the national team against the LA Galaxy.

The match will conclude the Azkals' 2011 campaign. This year, the senior team competed in the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers, World Cup Qualifiers-Asian Zone against Sri Lanka and Kuwait and a friendly match against Nepal, while the Under-23 team competed in the 2011 South East Asian Games.

MLS Most Valuable Player Landon Donovan

The full LA Galaxy Roster for Asia Pacific Tour 2011 presented by Herbalife, includes:

GOALKEEPERS (3) – Brian Perk, Donovan Ricketts, Josh Saunders
DEFENDERS (8) – Gregg Berhalter, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Frankie Hejduk, Dasan Robinson, Ryan Thomas
MIDFIELDERS (12) – David Beckham, Chris Birchall, Paolo Cardozo, Landon Donovan, Hector Jimenez, Bryan Jordan, Juninho, Dan Keat, Jovan Kirovski, Mike Magee, Dustin McCarty, Michael Stephens
FORWARDS (4) – Adam Cristman, Robbie Keane, Miguel Lopez, Jack McBean
HEAD COACH – Bruce Arena

Photos by Pom Villanueva. Used with Permission. Some rights reserved.