David Beckham

Beckham's Season Over as the Galaxy Fail to Advance

10/22/2007 at 10:00 AM EDT

David Beckham's first season with the Los Angeles Galaxy ended quietly on Sunday night, with his team falling short of the playoffs and its megawatt superstar failing to take a single shot on goal in his five games played.

The Galaxy needed a win to reach the postseason but lost 1-0 to the Chicago Fire. Still, Beckham, 32, looked on the bright side. "To go through what the players went through when I arrived, and before I arrived, was difficult to adjust," he tells the Los Angeles Times.

"But they showed character in the last six, seven games. No one expected us to be in this position today like we were, so it shows that we have character," Beckham said.

Beckham, who signed a lavish contract to join the team in July, will have a welcome break to rest his aching legs – but the layoff won't be long. "I'll be keeping on training and keeping fit," he says. "I might take maybe three weeks, four weeks doing nothing. Apart from that I'll be working all the way through." –Tim Nudd