Beckham praises Gullit despite heavy Galaxy defeat

David Beckham praised the immediate impact new coach Ruud Gullit has had on LA Galaxy after the US team's 5-3 loss to Sydney FC in an exhibition match here Tuesday.

Gullit, a two-time World Footballer of the Year and a European Footballer of the Year, took over as coach earlier this month and watched his new players for the first time in a match situation. The Galaxy, with Beckham arriving in mid-season but struggling due to ankle and knee injuries, had a mediocre year, missing the Major League Soccer play-offs for the second year in a row.

But Beckham, who signed a 250-million-dollar five-year contract with Galaxy, is impressed with Gullit's early work with the team.

"He's only coached us for two days and he's worked us really hard, harder than a lot of the players expected and it's good for us," Beckham said.

"We can learn from his experience because he's been one of the best players in the world, he won the World Player of the Year twice in his career and he's a manager and a player that we can all learn from."

Gullit said the Sydney exhibition game was an opportunity to watch his team for the first time in a competitive match, albeit a friendly.

"We have done two training sessions knowing that the guys already feel they are on holidays and two or three weeks into their off-season," Gullit said. "I asked them to give a last effort... I must say I'm really happy with what I saw. In the first 25 minutes we played really good football and that is the thing that I am taking with me.

"Of course after that the batteries were gone, they got a bit sloppy.

"Overall I have a really good feeling about this and I'm a happy coach.

"Of course I want to win but it was almost impossible because of our physical condition, we were playing a team in the middle of their season so I gave the team a compliment."

SYDNEY, Wednesday, AFP