The man from ESPN was “feeling sorry” for David Beckham. “He flies halfway across the world on an injured ankle and guts it out for an abject, woeful team that does him no favours. He deserves better . . . but that’s the English national team for you.”

The joke, of course, being that Beckham had just flown halfway back across the world on an injured ankle to “guts it out” for a team that is truly abject and woeful, namely Los Angeles Galaxy.

How Beckham must have chuckled after racing back from London to play in a 3-0 humbling by Chivas, his second 90 minutes and second defeat on consecutive nights.

The only man with more air miles than Alan Whicker could barely walk by the end of this ludicrous endurance test and lost his cool in the Home Depot Centre when he was the victim of what the LA Times called “a roundhouse tackle in the midriff”. A flash of temper was understandable given that it was nearly 4am English time and less than 30 hours since he had dragged his exhausted body off the pitch at Wembley after the 2-1 loss to Germany.

Such lunacy will not happen again - Beckham’s representatives will make sure of that - but the statistic of the day is that Beckham still faces at least 20 games, almost 80,000 air miles - across 128 time zones - and nearly a week in the air over the next three months.

None of this was planned and it was never going to be easy after Beckham’s unexpected recall to the national squad. His predicament deserves understanding but it is fair to say that when it comes to making the best of a bad job, the last week was not a good example. There was even sympathy from Jesse Marsch, the man who scythed him down and prompted a brawl in doing so.

”I was shocked Beckham played,” Marsch said. “He put in a good effort against Germany and then he is coming halfway across the world and doing it again. The Galaxy have got to figure out quickly what is happening on the field.”

The least surprising comment came from Frank Yallop, the Galaxy coach, when he admitted that Beckham should not have played so soon after his England exertions.

You don’t say.

But Yallop could just as easily have protested that Beckham should not have run out for England against Germany given that it was a friendly match and that he can do without the travelling.

Eager to please and to do the right thing for club and country, whatever the cynics might say, Beckham attempted to do both.

The main lesson of the week is that he cannot be trusted to make the right decisions for his own wellbeing so someone will have to do it for him. The question is who, because both of his managers at club and country are preoccupied with self-preservation.

Steve McClaren was desperate to have all his senior players together to prepare for the big matches ahead, but the England head coach should have told Beckham to stay in the United States and recuperate.

Having seen Beckham play all 90 minutes for England, Yallop was then idiotic in keeping him on for the entire match against Chivas. The Galaxy did not demand that of their US international and captain, Landon Dono-van, who had returned from Sweden and came on only as a substitute. And Chivas did not even include Jonathan Bornstein, who had made the same transatlantic flight.

But Yallop does not have the courage to take off Beckham and pleaded, limply, that he had simply been following the player’s instructions. “We need points and he’s that kind of a guy,” Yallop insisted. “At 2-0 down he could have a bit of magic and make a difference.”

His argument was not only weak but self-defeating. The result is that Beckham’s representatives are almost certain to step in and demand that he does not play 24 hours after internationals in the future. The Galaxy have scheduled Thursday night games after England’s next two call-ups but they should start making plans to do without him.

Playing Beckham half-fit, and half-asleep, can hardly serve them well in any case. His England teammates had noticed Beckham’s tiredness even before the game against Germany. “He was either training or sleeping,” one source in the camp said. Some untypically wayward crosses at Wembley betrayed his fatigue so it is hard to think what magic Yallop was expecting after Beckham had made an 11-hour flight.

Beckham had done his best to prepare by staying up after the England game to adjust back to Pacific time, but defeat to Chivas left the Galaxy with the second worst record in the MLS. Eight out of 13 teams qualify for the play-offs. Imagine the embarrassment for Beckham’s paymasters if they miss out.

No longer is Alexei Lalas talking of his willingness to “drive David to the airport”. Instead, the Galaxy’s general manager was talking about “doing what’s best for our organisation” but they have no choice other than to release Beckham under Fifa rules for the competitive matches ahead.

The good news for McClaren is that Beckham will be able to land at least five days before England’s next game, the critical European Championship qualifying match against Israel on September 8, when he should win his 98th cap.

And given the precariousness of the team’s position in group E, it may not be worth speculating much beyond that.

Wear and tear: How Beckham's miles add up

2,451

On August 17, Beckham flew from California to play the New York Red Bulls

3,463

After the match in New York, he flew to London to play for England against Germany on Wednesday

5,448

The night after, he played 90 minutes for LA Galaxy against Chivas USA

1,664

Tomorrow, LA Galaxy are playing the Colorado Rapids in Denver, before returning for a home match in midweek

10,896

Beckham returns to London for England’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel on September 8. He then returns home to prepare for Galaxy’s match against Chivas

Total: 23,922

Which is very nearly equivalent to flying once around the world