Los Angeles (6-7-5) at San Jose (3-9-6), 3 p.m.

Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said after last week's 4-0 loss to FC Dallas that "we've got a lot to work on."

The Galaxy - the highest-scoring team in Major League Soccer - were shutout for just the third time this year and their record slipped below .500 for the first time since the first week of the season.

Los Angeles was at the top of the Western Conference last month but its current six-game winless skid has dropped the team four points behind Real Salt Lake.

The Galaxy's last win was over the San Jose Earthquakes on June 14. L.A. hopes another game against the expansion club on Sunday at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland will jumpstart the team.

After last week's loss, it's hard to imagine things getting much worse for the Galaxy.

"We didn't deserve to win, we didn't play well, we didn't start the game well and our effort was bad to start the game," said Beckham, who has five goals and seven assists this season.

"So there's nothing really positive to take from the game."

L.A. was 5-2-3 in its 10 matches before the current skid, including a 4-1-1 run at the end of the strong stretch.

With forward Landon Donovan, who leads MLS in goals with 12 and also has seven assists, likely to miss matches late in the season to be with the U.S. national team, this is a crucial stretch for the Galaxy.

Los Angeles plays four games in August, and three of them are on the road. The Galaxy's first task is solving San Jose's tough defense in front of what should be a large crowd in Oakland. When L.A. defeated San Jose, 3-0, on June 14, the crowd was 39,872.

Despite their recent struggles, the Galaxy can close within one point of RSL with another win against the Earthquakes.

"We have to forget [the Dallas] game now and try to think positive about the game [this] weekend," Beckham said.

San Jose has the worst record in the league and is 0-2 in its two other matches in Oakland this season. The Earthquakes dropped their season opener to Chicago, 1-0, at McAfee Coliseum.

Combined with its games at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., San Jose is 2-6-3 in home games this season.

But it's tough to judge the current Earthquakes side by the entire season. San Jose made a number of moves recently to add English striker/midfielder Darren Huckerby, Brazilian midfielder Francisco Lima, league veteran midfielder Arturo Alvarez, forward Scott Sealy and Spanish forward Mikel Arce.

Arce was just signed Friday and Alvarez was added earlier this week, but the other three have already played for San Jose.

The Earthquakes are 12 points behind Real Salt Lake and mired in an eight-match winless streak, but their last three games have been draws. The most recent, a 1-1 draw with Red Bull New York, was an impressive performance and Huckerby had the tying goal.

"The competition is good. Everyone is very athletic," Huckerby, who has played the last two games for San Jose, said about MLS. "Technically, it might not be as good here as in the UK. The Premier League is the best league in the world so that's just one of those things."

If not for an early own goal in the tie against New York, the Earthquakes would have posted their first win since June 7 at Columbus. If San Jose can start a winning streak against L.A., it could easily turn its season around with eight of its last 12 games also at home.