Beckham, Galaxy to use charm offensive to win match vs Azkals

The Los Angeles Galaxy will definitely go all out to win against the Philippine Azkals in Saturday's football friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.   "We'll try to play diplomatic football but at the same time, we want to win,” said LA Galaxy midfielder and football icon David Beckham during the pre-match press conference of the event, dubbed as the Dream Cup, Thursday.   Beckham was joined in a packed press conference by United States national team forward Landon Donovan and LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena where they aired their thoughts about the match with the Azkals.   The press conference had two parts with the LA Galaxy contingent coming in after the Azkals. Beckham and Donovan received a warm welcome in the press conference.   The Galaxy is coming off a 1-0 victory over Indonesia at the Bungkarno Stadium in Jakarta in the first of three stops of their Asian Tour. They will cap their tour in Australia after the game against the Azkals.   “We are proud to be here. It was a very difficult game (Thursday) so we want to get some rest and be ready for the game on Saturday,” said Beckham.   Arena, a former US national team coach, also expressed his desire to win against the Azkals and show to Filipino fans the quality of games in Major League Soccer.   “We know that we represent the MLS and the LA Galaxy. We will be competitive, play hard and play fair,” said Arena.   Donovan said that he is excited to play in the country thanks to social networking site Twitter. “I’ve read a lot of people on Twitter after the announcement that we will be playing in the Philippines telling me how excited they are to see us.”   Knowing the Galaxy’s strength, Philippine men’s national team head coach Michael Weiss said that they will be playing defensive football on Saturday. “It would be naïve for me if we go offensive. We have to be reasonable and play deeper because of the strength of our opponent.”   Azkals players Phil Younghusband and Chieffy Caligdong said they also intend to play defensive football against the Galxy.   “We’ll play the same as we usually play but it is important that we concentrate on our own strategy and play more of a defensive team rather than play strong and attacking football,” said Younghusband.   Aly Borromeo was also present but will not suit up for the Azkals due to an ACL injury. — JVP, GMA News