Real slump to defeat in Tokyo

Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat by Tokyo Verdy on Monday in the first of two pre-season games in Japan.The Spanish club were...

Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat by Tokyo Verdy on Monday in the first of two pre-season games in Japan.

The Spanish club were stunned by a team who had conceded 26 goals in their last six games and recently fired Argentine coach Osvaldo Ardiles.

Daigo Kobayashi gave Verdy a shock lead after seven minutes and Real’s problems mounted when Brazilian striker Washington slid home the second goal in the 27th minute.

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England striker Michael Owen went close in the 35th minute but Real were caught out again eight minutes after the break by Takuya Yamada’s near-post header.

David Beckham started after missing Saturday’s 3-2 win over China’s Beijing Guo’an with a hamstring injury.

Luxembourgo acknowledged that Real’s punishing pre-season tour was beginning to take its toll.

“The fatigue showed today,” he said. “Real Madrid want to win things but we also have to think of business.”

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Beckham’s last contribution before being taken off in the 58th minute was an audacious free kick from the halfway line that almost caught out Verdy goalkeeper Yoshinari Takagi.

Real had already cancelled Tuesday’s training session with the players complaining of fatigue and they lacked urgency and creative spark.

They began the pre-season tour with victories over Mexico’s Chivas Guadalajara and the Los Angeles Galaxy in the United States.

Real’s six-match trip is set to earn the club around $25 million but there were swathes of empty seats among the crowd of 30,000 in Tokyo.

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Real play Jubilo Iwata on Wednesday before finishing the tour with a friendly in Bangkok.

(Reuters)

Becks in tunnel bust-up

David Beckham was involved in a furious halftime bust-up after accusing a Tokyo Verdy player of spitting at him during a pre-season game on Monday. The England captain and Real Madrid team mates Ronaldo and Michel Salgado tried to barge into Verdy’s changing room to get to Toda after an ugly clash on the pitch. “Toda spat in my face,” Beckham told Reuters after Real’s shock 3-0 defeat. “That in life is horrible but in football no players like that. Our players saw it and they weren’t happy about it.”

Asked what happened in the tunnel at halftime, Beckham smiled: “Only handbags but nothing much. Just a few words exchanged, nothing more.”