Edson Buddle

With $16-million worth of Major League Soccer salary on the field in the shape of only four players on Friday night, it figured that one of the quartet would make the difference. But the Galaxy's David Beckham ($6.5-million) and Landon Donovan ($2.1-million) and the New York Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Angel ($1.9-million) and Rafael Marquez ($5.5-million) did not play a leading role. Millionaires are not always the money players. Instead, it was the fastest man on the Home Depot Center field, New York's Dane Richards ($146,500)

With $16 million worth of Major League Soccer salary on the field in the shape of only four players on Friday night, it figured that one of the quartet would make the difference. But the Galaxy's David Beckham ($6.5 million) and Landon Donovan ($2.1 million) and the New York Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Angel ($1.9 million) and Rafael Marquez ($5.5 million) did not play a leading role. Instead, it was the fastest man on the Home Depot Center field, New York's Dane Richards ($146,500)

GALAXY TONIGHT Who: D.C. United. When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: FSC, FSE. Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 14-5-5; DC United 5-16-3. Record vs. D.C. United: 1-0. Update: The Galaxy, which defeated one of the league's strongest teams, the Columbus Crew, last week, takes on the weakest team in MLS. Once a league power, with four titles to its name, D.C. United has fallen on hard times.

Somewhere along the line, Major League Soccer will have expanded into all the cities it wants to inhabit, built all the stadiums it wants to build, and signed all the designated players it wants to sign. Perhaps then the league will give some serious attention to the upper-echelon American players in its fold, players such as Jonathan Bornstein. If ever there was a case of MLS succeeding on one front while simultaneously failing on another, Bornstein is that example. In only a few weeks, the 25-year-old Chivas USA defender's MLS career will come to an end. After five seasons in the league, Bornstein is packing his bags and moving to Monterrey, Mexico.

For a while this Major League Soccer season, Galaxy striker Edson Buddle was on a pace to not only break Roy Lassiter's all-time MLS record of 27 goals in a season, set in 1996, but to obliterate it. Buddle scored the Galaxy's first seven goals of 2010 and found the back of the net nine times in the team's first six games. He was in such torrid form, in fact, that Bob Bradley, the U.S. national team coach, had little choice but to take him to South Africa for the World Cup. And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the flood of goals dried up. Going into the Galaxy's match Saturday night against the Columbus Crew, Buddle still led the league with 13 goals, but he had scored only four times since May and had been held scoreless for 350 consecutive minutes.

The Galaxy took back the top position in Major League Soccer's overall table with a convincing 3-1 win over the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake briefly held the top spot after tying both Columbus and L.A. with points after a win over Seattle on Thursday, but now the Galaxy (14-5-5) is ahead by three points with all three having played 24 games. Columbus (13-6-5) looked out of sorts from the opening whistle, and dropped to 0-4-4 on the road vs, Western Conference teams this season.

All eyes at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night were focused on the Galaxy bench, where David Beckham sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, with only 20 minutes left in what turned out to be a 3-1 Galaxy victory over the Columbus Crew, Coach Bruce Arena made his move, signaling for the English midfielder to make his 2010 season debut. Beckham milked the moment. He took off his blue Galaxy warmup jacket. He stripped off his yellow T-shirt, showing his many and varied tattoos to oohs and aahs from fans seated behind the Galaxy bench.

Davy Arnaud scored one goal and created another Saturday night, and goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen made two exceptional saves as the Kansas City Wizards defeated the Galaxy, 2-0, at the Home Depot Center. The loss was the second in a row for Coach Bruce Arena's suddenly slumping team and the fourth in six games in what has been an abysmal August for the league leader. The Galaxy has lost seven of its last 11 games in all competitions, including the U.S. Open Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League and a friendly against Real Madrid.

Edson Buddle scored his 13th goal of the year, and the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New York Red Bulls, 1-0, on Saturday at Red Bull Arena in Major League Soccer. "I liked this game," New York coach Hans Backe said. "It was probably one of the most intense games for us this season. One turnover cost us a goal, but I'm still rather happy with our performance. We didn't overplay possession, and we played rather relaxed, and still created a number of chances. Once again, it's a good sign for us that we can compete and control possession against a team like the Galaxy.