See the tackle on Beckham here

David Beckham's draining transatlantic schedule is beginning to concern his employers Los Angeles Galaxy after the England midfielder sparked a brawl during his side's bad-tempered 3-0 defeat by Chivas USA last night.

Alexei Lalas, the Galaxy general manager, also suggested Beckham could miss some England friendlies as he faces a gruelling schedule of 22 games and almost 80,000 air miles over the next three months.

"We have a vested interest in this player and we have spent a tremendous amount of money to retain his services," Lalas said. "We want to make sure we get our money's worth and that he is healthy and both physically and mentally ready to go when he plays for the Galaxy. I'm not going to deny there comes a point when your body can't do it any more."

Beckham was felled by a high tackle by Chivas USA's Jesse Marsch which resulted in a shoving match between the two players. That sparked a melee where Alex Zotinca, the Chivas defender, headbutted Kevin Harmse, the Galaxy midfielder, who responded with a punch. Both received red cards.

Marsch has issued an apology to Beckham but claimed his tackle was retaliation for an earlier incident. "He had taken a piece of me before that," Marsch said. "The tackle was harder than I would have liked it to have been and I apologised to him.

"I told him I respect what he's about. He was finished with me though but it doesn't really matter. We are on two different teams, it's not like we're hanging out in free time. It was competitive and that is the way it goes sometimes."

Beckham played the entire 90 minutes for the third time in six days, just six hours after arriving on a flight from London and was limping towards the end of the match.

"I wasn't going to play him at all," Frank Yallop, the Galaxy coach, said. "But he wanted to play and realises the situation that the team is in. We need points and he's that kind of a guy - at 2-0 down he could have a bit of magic and make a difference.

"At the end, he looked a bit hobbled and he should have been rested."

Lalas hinted too that Galaxy will not be afraid to try to stop Beckham burning himself out with avoidable air miles. "If at any point we felt it was detrimental to his health or ability to help our team we would take action," Lalas said. "We would never stand in the way of a player representing their country.

"David's love of England and the honour that it is for him to represent his country is evident from the first time you talk to him."

Even so, Galaxy know they must protect their prize asset. "There will certainly be moments when we need to sit down with him and do what's best for our organisation and him," Lalas said. "There are Fifa dates that we have to abide by and will continue to do so. But if it is a friendly game that doesn't fall on a Fifa date that is obviously something we will have to discuss with the player."

Beckham will face more air travel if the Galaxy reach the MLS play-offs, which are scheduled for the weeks before England's final qualifier against Croatia.

But Beckham's spokesman, Simon Oliveira, says he does not anticipate any problems: "We are not worried. David is very confident he will be in peak condition - both for England and his club."