Both David Beckham and Robbie Keane will not be part of the squad that will play in the Champions League against Puerto Rico because the manager has decided to leave most of the squad with the view of keeping them fresh for the rest of the campaign. Alongside Landon Donovan, both David Beckham and Robbie Keane have an important role in the squad.

Due to the fact that both Robbie Keane and David Beckham coming to the end of their careers, the manager Bruce Arena decided to not take these players for the match against Puerto Rico, even though its a bit like Barcelona leaving Lionel Messi at home!

He has said that this is the third game for the club in the space of a week, which has put tremendous pressure on the resources he has at its disposal. Further, it would have meant that David Beckham and Robbie Keane would have been overused. So, he decided it is best for them to remain home under this situation, which would mean that they would be fresh for the remainder of the season. LA Galaxy come into the match with comfortable lead under the favourites to go to the next round. Following this match, LA Galaxy will be having only a few days of recovery before they take on Toronto.

“We’re just in a week where we’re playing three games. We’ll have some different players on the field that we did in the first game. But we’ll have a mixture of players. When you’re out awhile, it takes some time to get fit. I was a little tired towards the end of last week when I came out, but I think if I had to go 10 or 15 more minutes, then I could have gone through it. The only caveat to that is that this is a different environment. It’s hotter, it’s humid and that could play into it,” said Bruce Arena.