Beckham’s Galaxy in line for MLS championship

CARSON, Calif. – David Beckham has reached the grand finale of his five-year Hollywood saga.

The English superstar will play for his first Major League Soccer championship today with the Los Angeles Galaxy, hoping to lift the MLS Cup alongside Landon Donovan in vindication of his groundbreaking American experiment.

After posting his best season stateside during the Galaxy’s dominant campaign, the midfielder needs one more victory to earn something he didn’t realize he wanted when he moved to Los Angeles amid all that fanfare in 2007.

“It’s only the last year or two that I started to understand the playoff system, to be honest,” Beckham said. “It’s something I’ve got used to now. We’ve had success in the last three years, but we want the big one. We want the MLS Cup.”

For the second straight season, the star-studded Galaxy won the Supporters’ Shield as MLS’ best regular-season team, which would be the ultimate achievement in any other big soccer league. Los Angeles then rolled to three straight playoff victories, and now they’re favored in the MLS Cup against the resilient Houston Dynamo, who must play without injured star Brad Davis.