Just wait till next year.

That is the only cold comfort soccer fans are giving themselves today after the announcement Friday that David Beckham will not be accompanying the Los Angeles Galaxy when it visits Dick's Sporting Goods Park for a match against the Rapids on Sunday.

After playing three full matches in six days, two of which were on consecutive days in London and Los Angeles, the Galaxy has opted to rest its world-weary traveler and his balky left ankle.

The announcement dismayed more than 18,000 fans who gobbled up every available ticket for a match promoted heavily as an opportunity for Front Range soccer fans to see the international icon in action in person.

Likely to be more irritating to fans is the team's stance that no refunds will be issued for the match. In March, when single- match seats went on sale, the match for Sunday sold out in less than 90 minutes. On Wednesday, the team released 500 standing-room only tickets, and they sold out in 16 minutes.

Calls to Rapids general manager Jeff Plush and the team's marketing and entertainment director were not returned Friday.

The club, in conjunction with the Galaxy, did release a statement, in which Plush said:

"While we were looking forward to hosting David here in Colorado, the Rapids game against the Galaxy is still a huge match for us this Sunday, it's basically a six-point game. The Galaxy not having their best player helps us out on the pitch as we make our final push to the playoffs, and having that 12th-man support in the full building Sunday night will only help us against the Galaxy.

"We applaud Beckham's efforts as a competitor on the pitch over this last week, and we believe if he could play on Sunday, that he would. We wish him a speedy recovery, but at the same time I look forward to seeing all the fans that will be at the fifth sellout of the year at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday supporting their Rapids in this all-important match."

A source from the Rapids said the organization's stance on refunds essentially was that the match still was on tap and tickets are not sold for one player. Yet Beckham's appearance has been marketed heavily.

On Aug. 16, against the New England Revolution, as the Rapids were putting together their best offensive performance to date at their new facility, the scoreboards flashed advertisements encouraging people to come see "Beckhamania," even though at that time no tickets were available.

He played for England's national team in a friendly against Germany on Wednesday before flying to Los Angeles for the Galaxy's game against CD Chivas USA on Thursday night.

On Friday, the (Los Angeles) Daily News reported Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said after the match against Chivas that it was Beckham's decision to play immediately after his around- the-world flight.

The whirlwind week of travel doomed Beckham's first competitive appearance at the Rapids' new facility. His workload this week, which included a full match against the New York Red Bulls a week ago, left the Galaxy with little choice but to give their $32.5 million investment a breather.

Eager to take advantage of the drawing power of its newest star, Major League Soccer scheduled the majority of the Galaxy's matches for the second half of the season, anticipating a Beckham box office bonanza. But Beckham's national team duties back home, combined with the Galaxy's advancement to the final of the SuperLiga competition Wednesday, created an unforgiving slate for any player.

"We were pretty adamant that until he's close to 100 percent, it does us no good to have him running around out there," Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas told the Rocky Mountain News earlier this week. "We don't need him out there just getting his picture taken. We need him out there playing and playing well for us. He's still not 100 percent but I think he's shown in the past two weeks that he is worth every penny."

Beckham, in the statement released Friday, added:

"I'm really disappointed to not be able to play my first match in Colorado, when I was there for the All-Star Game it looked like a fantastic stadium. I'd love to be on the pitch with my team this Sunday, but our training staff has advised me that it would be detrimental to not only my health for this game but for the rest of the season as well.  Thanks to all the fans that have supported me these last few weeks; I look forward to making it out to Colorado for our next scheduled match there."