Lack of preparation doesn't mean a shortage of competition in this week's Pac-Pacific Championships.

"The teams that we're playing against all have great players," said soccer star David Beckham, a midfielder for the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Every one of them is going to be exciting and good to play against. We've played against Sydney FC, which was a friendly ... well it wasn't a friendly at times, but that's how football is."

The Galaxy take on Gamba Osaka at 6 p.m. followed by the Houston Dynamo and Sydney FC at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at Aloha Stadium in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championships.

The third-place game is 6 p.m. Saturday, with the championship at 8:30 p.m.

The Galaxy, Dynamo and Gamba Osaka are using this tournament as a way to continue preseason training for upcoming league and non-league competition.

After the Pan-Pacific Championships, Los Angeles heads to Korea and China for the Asia Tour 2008.

Beckham said the Galaxy may not be "match-fit" yet after just three weeks of preseason training, but they will use the games to work on their fitness level. After not qualifying for the MLS Cup playoffs last season, he said the team is looking to change things this season, "with a new manager, obviously new players that we've brought in, a new regime, and a new togetherness.

"I think we need to win something or at least reach the playoffs this year because it's disappointing when you don't," Beckham added.

The Dynamo are training for the CONCACAF Champions Cup that begins in Guatemala on March 12.

"I think this competition comes at a great time for us," said Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching, a Kamehameha Schools graduate from Hale'iwa.

"We won't be 100 percent fit, but we'll be nearly there," Ching added. "We had a couple of games last week in San Jose and I think our guys performed pretty well. We had a lot of guys away on national team duty and they are a 100 percent fit coming into this tournament."

Gamba Osaka begins its J-League season March 8.

"We are hoping to have a good game in Hawai'i before we start our domestic games," Gamba Osaka coach Akira Nishino said through a translator.

Nishino said traveling for a preseason tournament is "unheard of," and they are missing some key players, but he is "hoping we do well and am actually looking forward to having a good game in spite of these things."

While Sydney FC's season is complete, they are not without motivation. Defender Tony Popovic said they would use the Pan-Pacific Championships as a way to "showcase the A-League and show how far we've come in Australia."

"Coming up against some good sides here, we want to do really well," he said.

Sydney FC coach John Kosmina added: "In Australia this has been talked about as a consolation prize, but I actually don't think it is.

"It's the inaugural tournament and we'd like to go home with our name on the trophy. We didn't come here to get a suntan ... we are here to play football."

Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear also spoke about motivation.

"As MLS champions we hold very highly the standard we have set for ourselves in every competition we enter," Kinnear said. "It's the inaugural tournament, another chance to let people see how the Houston Dynamo play and as champions of Major League Soccer it's important for us to go into every competition to win it and that's our ambition while we're here in Hawai'i."

All four clubs can boast championship results in their respective leagues. The Dynamo won the past two MLS Cups (and won as the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 and 2003), and the Galaxy won it in 2002 and 2005.

Gamba Osaka won the Yamazaki NABISCO Cup last season and Sydney FC won the Grand Final in 2006.

While the players look forward to either the start or end of their season, Beckham said they will also enjoy being in Hawai'i.

"I think the atmosphere and warmth of the place ... everybody has such a friendly aura about them in Hawai'i, even so far since we've been here," said Beckham, who arrived in Honolulu yesterday.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.