LA Galaxy 1 Tottenham 1
I'VE GOT IT LICKED ... Gareth Bale celebrates in typical fashion
Published: Today at 08:48
GARETH BALE was branded "a beast" after he headed Tottenham in front with a beauty.
The Wales star showed no signs of the back injury that caused him to pull out of Team GB's Olympic squad earlier this month as he put on a golden performance in this pre-season friendly.
Bale displayed more energy than Mo Farah as he put on a breathless and breathtaking showing before being replaced by David Bentley on 73 minutes.
As he left the field he received a standing ovation from the near 27,000 crowd — and rightly so.
Bale, bad back or no bad back, was easily the best player on the park.
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas said: "He came back to us during this week so we had to control the amount of effort he could put in.
He is of course extremely young and physically a beast so he was able to put in the effort.
"We extended that because we want him to complete a certain amount of minutes before we start the season.
"You could say that we took a risk. If you recall 10 minutes into the game he was stretching himself so he was feeling a little bit of muscle tightness but it was controllable and we just let him carry on."
AVB has every right to feel chuffed.
But quite what Stuart Pearce will think this morning when he hears of Bale's transatlantic heroics is another matter.
You can bet his thoughts would not be suitable for printing by this family newspaper website.
On this evidence, Pearce is well within his rights to feel angry, hurt and more than a touch let down.
Bale opted out of Team GB earlier this month, citing a back injury and a genuine fear he would miss the start of the Premier League if he played at the Olympics.
But this morning, having travelled halfway around the world, he appeared as fit as a fiddle as he got his club's pre-season tour of the US off to the perfect start.
Bale stretched his spine to the limit as he climbed to head in Gylfi Sigurdsson's inswinging cross to put Spurs 1-0 up in the 18th minute.
It is amazing what a quick spray of Ralgex can do, isn't it?
Or maybe Bale bought one of those quick healing infra-red massagers Del Boy used to knock out from his suitcase on Only Fools And Horses.
Whatever brought on his miraculous recovery clearly did the trick.
Sadly, though, Bale's unrivalled energy and agility was not enough to secure Tottenham victory.
Indeed, the star was responsible for LA Galaxy's leveller as he was caught napping, allowing Hector Jimenez square for David Junior Lopes to fire past Carlo Cudicini in the 29th minute.
It was difficult to be too hard on Bale — he has got a bad back after all!
But his slip let Galaxy back into the game and the MLS side would have gone into half-time leading had their former Spurs striker Robbie Keane been wearing his shooting boots.
The Irishman wasted three good chances to fire the Americans ahead and it was no great surprise when he was substituted at the break.
AVB made a number of changes to his Tottenham team during and after the interval, with keeper Cudicini and new defender Jan Vertonghen the only players to play a full 90.
Spurs should have been awarded two penalties but in the end were left feeling thankful that injuries to Rafael van der Vaart, who limped off in the first half holding his groin, and Kyle Walker, who came off second best in a row with a pitchside advertising hoarding, were not deemed too serious.
Both players should be fit for Saturday's game against Liverpool in Baltimore — but Luka Modric will again be missing.
SPURS OLD BOY ... Robbie Keane
AVB insisted the wantaway midfielder will NOT be joining up with the tour, as expected.
However, the Portuguese confirmed the player has apologised to the club for missing the tour.
He said: "He is in London, we decided for him to stay in London.
"Will he come out? I don’t think so.
"It’s something that I have to judge. The game against Liverpool is going to be played in tremendous heat.
"We only have three days of training for that game, then eventually we have the last game against New York Red Bulls so it doesn’t give a lot of time for us to train.
"At the level that the others are at the moment I think it would not be sensible to bring Luka back but the decision can still be taken."
Tottenham: Cudicini, Walker (Naughton 66), Kaboul (Dawson 66), Vertonghen, Bassong (Assou-Ekotto 46); Townsend (Lennon 46), Livermore (Huddlestone 73), Sigurdsson (Carroll 75), Bale (Bentley 73); Van der Vaart (Jenas 35); Defoe (Kane 66).
