David Beckham is racking up more frequent-flyer miles than he will ever know what to do with - and FIFA, Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Galaxy and marketing forces all share the blame.

After playing his first full 90 minutes for the Galaxy in a rollicking 5-4 loss on Saturday night against the New York Red Bulls, the 32-year old midfielder once again boarded a plane.

"I am traveling to London to meet up with the England team and I would like to play some part in the game against Germany," said Beckham, who went the distance in that Wednesday friendly. "Then I am flying back to Los Angeles. Hopefully, I can sleep all the way on the plane, get some rest and then play some part in the Chivas game."

Yes, you read that correctly.

Beckham traveled to England on Sunday to play against Germany in a friendly at London's Wembley Stadium on Wednesday. The following day, he flies back to Los Angeles for a game against city rivals Chivas USA that night at the Home Depot Center.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy's other star, Landon Donovan, will also be missing since he will be playing for the US in a friendly against Sweden in Göteborg. He, however, will miss the Chivas USA match.

Beckham, who risks burnout, started his marathon traveling stint August 3rd when he and his Galaxy teammates flew to Canada two days before a Major League Soccer game against Toronto FC. Since then, Beckham and the Galaxy have jetted to Washington DC, then Boston, back to Los Angeles and across the country again to New York.

The Galaxy has little choice in the matter. The England-Germany game falls on an international FIFA date, a time when clubs have no choice but to release players for national team duty. FIFA also asks too much of clubs, creating tournaments when one is not needed and allowing teams to play friendlies only for the sake of gate revenues. The Galaxy have always said that Beckham was free to play for England whenever they come knocking.

Beckham's busy travel schedule has exposed the limitations of the MLS schedule, and what a team has to deal with if they choose to sign an international star. The Galaxy - who wanted to maximize the Beckham effect by being on the road for such a long stretch - is a test subject when it comes to this experiment. Beckham, however, said he does not believe it will hurt him or the team over the long haul.

"I don't think it would affect my performance for England or the Galaxy," he said.

Beckham, who arrived in this country last month restricted by a nagging left ankle injury, did admit that he is not used to traveling great distances since most of his experience has been limited to playing in England or Spain, leagues where games are played on a weekly basis and aren't spread out across four time zones.

"I've handled the traveling well so far," he said. "It's something that I've not been used to in my career."

Beckham's schedule will be tough on the Galaxy and their fans, who have seen very little of him over the past few weeks and will now have his services restricted Thursday for one of the season's biggest games versus Chivas USA. Of course, Beckham's presence is very precious to both the Galaxy and the league's other teams.

If the soccer naysayers in this country needed to be convinced, then they can look at the 66,237 fans that turned up Saturday at Giants Stadium for the Red Bulls-Galaxy game. Beckham's appearance added over 50,000 more fannies in the seats than the Red Bulls usually attract, and the sight was a throwback to the days of Pelé and the North American Soccer League.

But Pelé didn't have the same problems Beckham has encountered. Pelé was retired from playing with Brazil. Beckham is trying to qualify England for the 2008 European Championship and again become a regular fixture in the starting line-up.

"Everybody knows I want to play as many games as possible for England," said Beckham. He says he will take the schedule, and flying, in stride.

"I haven't done that since I was probably eight or nine years old when we played games on Saturdays and Sundays," he said. "It's definitely going to be difficult."

In the meantime, the fans who shell out big bucks to see Beckham are the ones being cheated.