David Beckham has been ruled out of Los Angeles Galaxy's SuperLiga match against Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara at LA Coliseum on Saturday.
The 32-year-old England midfielder, restricted to a brief cameo role for his Galaxy debut against Chelsea last week, has been struggling to shake off a lingering ankle injury.
"The Chelsea game didn't put him back but he's not out here today and he won't be playing tomorrow," head coach Frank Yallop told reporters after a Galaxy training session on Friday.
"It would be great to have him fully available from day one but what you can't do is force anything and make a player play when he's not ready because he won't play well.
"The work that he's had done is obviously helping it but his ankle is still tight," he added at the Home Depot Center. "It's just a matter of time really. Fitness-wise, it won't be an issue, though."
Asked about Beckham's chances of playing a part in the Galaxy's SuperLiga match at FC Dallas on Tuesday, Yallop replied: "Possibly, but there's no way that we're going to send him out when he's not ready to play for us.
"It's not about him stepping on for five minutes and waving. He wants to get healthy and fit and play properly.
BIG IMPROVEMENT
"He can't wait to get on the field with these guys because he wants to prove to them why we brought him over. I think in the next week we're going to see a big improvement."
Signed from Real Madrid on a $32.5 million five-year deal, Beckham played for only 16 minutes on his debut against FA Cup holders Chelsea last Saturday.
Since his arrival in Los Angeles just over two weeks ago, he has trained with the Major League Soccer (MLS) team's squad, mainly spending time in the treatment room and the gym.
While his new team mates were outside training at their home stadium on Friday, Beckham was indoors being given ice treatment and massage to help reduce the swelling around his left ankle.
Beckham twisted his ankle playing for his country against Estonia in a Euro 2008 qualifying match last month.
He aggravated it in his final appearance for Real 11 days later when his former team clinched the Spanish league title.
Beckham's first MLS regular season match for the Galaxy is scheduled for August 5 against Toronto FC at BMO Field in Toronto.
