Mon May 5 18:05:23 2008

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Beckham earns 2nd MLS Player of Week honor

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New York, NY (Sports Network) - Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 6, it was announced on Monday.

Saturday, Beckham led the Galaxy back from a two goal deficit on the road against Real Salt Lake, scoring two goals in a four-minute span to draw even before the break. His performance helped the Galaxy stay within one point of the top of the Western Conference with a 2-2-2 record.

"I think we started off terrible in the first 20 minutes," Beckham said. "We didn't close after them as a team and we got scared of them. And then a couple of tackles started going in and we livened up and we started getting back into the game. I scored the two goals, of course, but it was the work that was done before that that created the enthusiasm for the team.

"At the end of the game, we would have been happy with a win, and so would they, but as far as 2-2, it's the right result."

Real Salt Lake took control of the game early, scoring two goals in the first 18 minutes before the Beckham brace drew the visitors even. The first Galaxy goal came in the 36th minute when Beckham took a pass outside the penalty area, took a touch a fired a bending shot into the upper left corner of the net. The tying goal was scored on a free kick from about 30 yards out, which Beckham bent around the defensive wall and past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando just four minutes later.

"I'm like a little kid every time a free kick is given on the edge of the box," Beckham said. "The excitement comes into myself and most of the time I can score them."

The Player of the Week award is Beckham's second of the season and the fourth time in six weeks that a Galaxy player has won the award. Beckham previously won in Week 2, with teammate Landon Donovan winning in Weeks 4 and 5.

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). Full disclosure of the votes can be found at www.soccerreporters.com/.

Below are the 2008 player of the week winners to date:

Week 1: Terry Cooke (Colorado Rapids)

Week 2: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 3: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)

Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 5: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 6: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)