David Beckham's worst nightmare came true over the weekend: the Galaxy won.

Sunday's win for the Galaxy means David Beckham will miss England's exhibition against Brazil next week.
Sunday's win for the Galaxy means David Beckham will miss England's exhibition against Brazil next week.

The first round of the 2009 MLS playoffs twisted the knife one last time for Toronto FC supporters. Real Salt Lake, the team which supplanted the Reds for the fourth and final spot in the east, knocked off the top-seeded Columbus Crew to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

Real will face the Chicago Fire for the right to play in the MLS Cup final later this month. The Fire used a decisive goal from Cuauhtemoc Blanco to send the New England Revolution packing, 3-2 on aggregate.

In the Western Conference, David Beckham's worst nightmare came to fruition: the Galaxy won. While MLS can hardly contain its excitement, the next round of games means no glamour friendly against Brazil in Qatar for Beckham.

Landon Donovan showed ice water in slotting home a penalty in the 73rd minute to Chivas USA home.

I can already see Becks on his iPhone in the tunnel next Saturday:

DB: "Hello Fabio, it's David, just calling to say hello and let you know I am thinking about you and I am still interested in going to World Cup 2010."

Thanks to the miracle of receiving west-coast high-definition channels where I reside, I watched all 210 minutes of the Seattle Sounders playoff debut against the Houston Dynamo. Yawn. In the end, a "piece of magic" from Brian Ching separated the two sides.

The Sounders undoubtedly enjoyed a successful first campaign in the league, but when you peel back some of that shiny, lime-green wrapping paper it reveals a team that scored just one goal at home in the final third of the season.

The snippets on each of the two-leg ties may also resonate with TFC supporters as the names involved in securing the respective victories -- Blanco, Findlay, Donovan and Ching -- make it easy to believe that De Rosario would have been one of them if not for season-ending debacle in New York.

Canadian Soccer Association final thought:

Stephen Hart still wears the interim albatross around his neck and promising young defender Jacob Lensky became the fourth player to leave our nation at the altar for a sexier European mate.

Canadians were angry at Owen Hargreaves, upset with Jonathan De Guzman, bemoaned Asmir Begovic but were barely able to lift a fist at Lensky.

Apathy will weaken even the most ardent of support.

Regardless, the reason to watch this weekend will be to applaud Iain Hume and his remarkable comeback from a life-threatening injury.