David Beckham has arrived in Hawaii ahead of Los Angeles Galaxy’s participation in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship and is fully focussed on attaining match fitness ahead of the new Major League Soccer season.

The Galaxy are featuring in the two-day tournament alongside fellow MLS side Houston Dynamo, Gamba Osaka of Japan’s J.League and Sydney FC of Australia’s A-League at the Aloha Stadium, Oahu.

And former England captain Beckham, who trained with Premier League leaders Arsenal last month, is happy to make his first trip to the United States’ 50th state, but is concentrating on his football ahead of the Galaxy’s opening MLS fixture with Colorado Rapids on March 29.

“We’re very happy to be here, and very honoured with the invitation,” said the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, who signed for the Galaxy in January 2007.

“Also, this is my first time in Hawaii so I’m looking forward to looking around and seeing the beaches and seeing everything.

“It’s beautiful here. Yet, we’re preparing for our season, we’re in our pre-season training, and we’re not match fit yet, but this is what we can do (to prepare) in these matches.”

Ruud Gullit, who took over as Los Angeles coach last November after Frank Yallop stepped down to lead the MLS expansion San Jose Earthquakes, is also looking forward to the contests.

“It’s a great opportunity to see the island, but for this purpose we are here to play a tournament,” said Gullit, who will be targeting a play-off place this term after the Galaxy missed out last season.

“We’re looking forward to the games, and the team’s preparing reasonably well. We’ve had some players with injury problems that need to be resolved, and we still take these games very seriously, but we have to take care of our players.”

The Galaxy and Gamba Osaka kick-off the action on Wednesday at 6pm local time (Thursday, 4am GMT), while the Dynamo and Sydney FC square off in the evening’s second semi-final match at 8.30 pm.

The winners from Wednesday’s matches advance to Saturday’s tournament championship at 8.30pm (Sunday, 5.30am GMT). The third-place match will precede the title game at 6pm.