A little Beckham can’t help Galaxy
History will record that David Beckham made his Major League Soccer debut Thursday on a rain-soaked evening at RFK Stadium in Washington.
With a sellout crowd of 46,686 watching his every move, Beckham, who had been on the sideline, jogging and stretching and squinting through the downpour, stripped off his Galaxy warmup top, slipped into his already famous No. 23 game jersey and stepped onto the field for the first time in an MLS match.
By then, of course, it was too late.
The Galaxy, struggling to lift its game to match the occasion, trailed by a goal and was also a man down, courtesy of Kyle Martino’s red card. Beckham’s entrance 71:01 into the encounter did little to change matters as Los Angeles lost, 1-0, to D.C. United.
The millionaire midfielder’s 20 or so minutes featured no clattering tackles, either by him or against him, no darting runs, no mazy dribbles and no shots. He did curve a free kick into the United penalty area that teammate Carlos Pavon managed to head over the crossbar. He did produce a superlative pass for Landon Donovan to run onto, and he did seem to settle a disorganized Galaxy midfield simply by his presence.
Most important of all, he was not limping at game’s end.
As debuts go, it was modest, but Beckham seemed satisfied that he had finally made it into a game after weeks of nursing what the British call a wonky left ankle.
“I was happy to be out there and at least get 20 minutes,” Beckham said. “It’s a big step forward for me tonight.
“It’s not nice to disappoint people who have paid a lot of money to see the game, so I was thankful to actually get on the pitch. So it was a good night, but also a bad night because we ended up losing.”
The atmosphere at RFK Stadium was even more electric than usual, with United’s two major fan groups, the “Screaming Eagles” and the “Barra Brava” determined to give Beckham, Donovan and company a night to remember.
Beckham seemed to enjoy it all and was laughing with Cobi Jones on the Galaxy bench, perhaps amused by a huge sign that read: “We Sing Better Than Your Wife.”
Victoria Beckham, otherwise known as Posh Spice of the Spice Girls, was not present, but England Coach Steve McLaren was, and cannot have failed to notice the rough edges on Beckham’s new team.
The Galaxy was on the back foot from the start. In the first 15 minutes alone, Ben Olsen blazed a shot over the Los Angeles crossbar, Josh Gros had a shot saved by goalkeeper Joe Cannon and Luciano Emilio directed a header just over the bar as United dominated.
In the 27th minute, Emilio put the home team ahead with a fierce, rising shot from 22 yards that Cannon got his fingertips onto but could not stop.
The goal was Emilio’s league-leading 13th of the season.
The Galaxy was always chasing the game after that, and might even have tied it had referee Jair Marrufo awarded Los Angeles a penalty kick in the 57th minute after Donovan appeared to be taken down by midfielder Devon McTavish, but Marrufo saw no foul.
“It’s just frustrating when you put a lot of hard work in, Landon makes a great run, gets pulled down and he [Marrufo] misses it,” Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop said.
Beckham came into the game four minutes after Martino had been ejected for a careless, studs-up tackle into the right ankle of United’s Brazilian midfielder Fred.
Who decided that Beckham would play?
“The manager made the decision,” Beckham said. “I didn’t make the decision. Obviously, I told him how I felt and he said, ‘You know, if you’re confident that you can get through the game without making [the injured ankle] worse, then go do it.”
Said Yallop: “I think once the rain started to come down I felt more comfortable with putting David on. We asked him and he said he was ready to go, so that was good news. It was great to see him out there.”
Jones reported from Los Angeles. Washington-based freelance writer Brian Straus contributed to this report.
