OTL

Beckham has not trained fully with his Galaxy team-mates since he arrived in America in mid-July and will not be in action tonight barring a drastic improvement to his ankle injury.

Beckham, who missed a Superliga game at FC Dallas last week, asked for patience.

“I’m here for five years and maybe more,” he told a packed news conference Saturday at the Air Canada Centre. “That’s where people may have to be slightly patient and not think that I’m just here for the glitz and the glamour. I’m here to play soccer. I’m not here to play anything else.”

Beckham was on the practice field Saturday, but was restricted to running because of his sore ankle.

“It needs to be right,” he said. “There’s no point in me coming back and playing in a game — when people are expecting me to play at a high level, like I can and I do — and not performing.”

After Toronto, the Galaxy next plays Thursday in Washington against D.C. United.

He said: “Fitness-wise I’m fine, it’s just the ankle is still swollen. I’m having deep tissue massage every day and at the moment running in straight lines is fine but that’s not going to help me in a game.

“You need to be right. There’s no point in me coming back and playing a game when people are expecting me to be playing at the high level I can and do. I’m here for five years and maybe longer and it needs to be right.”