Soccer Roundup: Real Madrid Wants Beckham To Stay, But He Will Be Going

David Beckham is sticking to his plan: He is bound for the Los Angeles Galaxy next month, regardless of what anyone says.

“There is no intention of getting out of the Galaxy deal or reneging on the Galaxy deal,” his agent, Simon Oliveira, said yesterday.

Real Madrid’s president, Ramón Calderón, was quoted in the Spanish news media as saying that he would try to persuade Beckham to stay and would use an escape clause in Beckham’s Galaxy contract to withdraw from the deal.

Calderón, speaking at the French Open tennis final in Paris, spoke of a possible meeting with Beckham’s camp and with Real Madrid’s sport director, Predrag Mijatovic.

“We have to sit down with him, his representatives and with Mijatovic, take a look at that clause and decide among us,” Calderón said. “But for me, I would love it if he stayed at our club.”

Alexi Lalas, the Galaxy’s president and general manager, said that there was no escape clause in Beckham’s contract.

“On the surface of it, it’s a benign comment,” Lalas said. “I don’t doubt they would love nothing more than to have David Beckham continue with the team. Nothing has changed from our standpoint.”

Beckham’s contract with Real Madrid ends June 30. Lalas said he expected Beckham to arrive in Los Angeles in mid-July.

RED BULLS FALL TO D.C. UNITED Ben Olsen had the first three-goal game of his career yesterday to help host D.C. United beat the first-place Red Bulls, 4-2.

Olsen, who has four goals in United’s past two home games, had not scored more than three goals in any of the previous three seasons for the club. He has 24 goals in his Major League Soccer career, which began with United (4-3-2) in 1998. The Red Bulls fell to 6-3-2.

Luciano Emilio had United’s other goal. Dema Kovalenko and Juan Pablo Ángel scored for the Red Bulls.

HONDURAS EDGES MEXICO Carlos Costly scored two second-half goals, including the winner in injury time, to lift Honduras past the four-time champion Mexico, 2-1, at the Concacaf Gold Cup yesterday in East Rutherford, N.J.

Costly’s goals came after Mexico was reduced to 10 men in the 49th minute, when Cuauhtémoc Blanco was ejected for elbowing defender Samuel Caballero in front of the Honduran goal as the two jostled for position on a corner kick.

Costly tied the score in the 60th minute, running on to a through ball from Amado Guevara and hitting a left-footed shot into the far-side netting. He scored the winner on a header 16 seconds into injury time.

Later, Reynier Alcantara scored in the 78th minute and Cuba survived a late penalty attempt for a 2-2 tie with Panama.

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