Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench during the first half against Los Angeles Galaxy during the World Football Challenge August 2, 2012 Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Image

World Soccer: Real Madrid Defeats MLS Champions LA Galaxy with Ease.

World Football Challenge (WFC) Match Recap: Real Madrid Defeats MLS Champions LA Galaxy 5-1.

It was almost as if the score could have been 10-1, and that the highly acclaimed Spanish soccer champions Real Madrid tried not to embarrass last year’s MLS champs by running up the score in front of a record crowd of 30,000 screaming soccer fans.

While many of the soccer fans came out to see the big European stars, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Özil, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Sami Khedira only came out in the second half.  The unspoken question that hung in the Home Depot Center in Carson California was what would have happened if they had played the whole game.

While everyone agrees that American soccer in general and the MLS in specific has improved significantly in the past few years, spankings like this leave fans feeling embarrassed.  The MLS is often referred to as the graveyard of soccer as many championship players abroad come to play and enjoy high earnings with adoring fans in the twilight of their careers, past where they could have enjoyed the same experience in other more competitive leagues -- and games like this reinforce this opinion.  What Americans have to appreciate is that our country is the youngster on the soccer field.

As Real Madrid kicked off a four-game U.S. tour with a strong victory of 5-1 against the LA Galaxy last night, we are all left to wonder how other MLS teams would fare taking on the Spanish giant.

LA Galaxy’s lone goal was scored by center back David Junior Lopes while Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuaín started the scoring for the visitors and  Ángel Di María along with José María Callejón scored prior to the halftime whistle. In the second half, Álvaro Morata and Álex Fernández earned goals for Real Madrid.

This match against Real Madrid could not have been LA Galaxy’s keeper Josh Saunders favorite game as 5 balls found their way into the back of the net.

Cristiano Ronaldo almost scored towards the end of the match in the 86^th minute but rookie Tommy Meyer saved the Galaxy when he cleared the ball away from the goal line.  While David Beckham is an excellent player and always a threat, he was unable to help his team against Real Madrid.

Many fans were disillusioned by the disparity between the teams’ performance on the field. Some fans fail to realize that the beautiful game of professional soccer is played on many levels and that we should be proud of how far we have come, not humiliated by how others are better at soccer.

These international friendlies are important for the development of soccer in America and are a huge opportunity for soccer lovers to appreciate first hand the extraordinary game of soccer.

Next Up: Real Madrid takes on Santos Laguna in Las Vegas on August 5th and then travels to New York to play in Yankee Stadium against AC Milan on August 8th and then finally on to Philadelphia for the last match against Celtics on August 11^th.