Beckham's Debut (sort of)

Ok, so it wasn't really his debut, as he had seen some time previously in two games, but it was his first start, and first significant action of the season for him and his team. In all, Beckham played 63 minutes, and what an eventful 63 minutes it was. The team won the game 2-0, which advanced them to the SuperLiga title game against CF Pachuca. Now onto the game itself...

In the 27th minute, the Galaxy were awarded a free kick about 30 yards from goal in the middle of the field. Beckham stepped up and put a perfectly placed shot over the wall of defenders, and dipped it and bent it into the upper 90 on the left side of the goal (see it here). My favorite part is the goalkeeper, who realizes right away he has not shot at the ball, and just stands there with his hands on his hips. That is right son, you haven't seen a ball like that in this league before...

Then, just for fun, Beckham decided to put up an assist in the game as well. Just two minutes after halftime, he put another perfectly placed through ball from midfield to release Landon Donovan, who blew past his defender and slotted one into the back of the net (see it here). Watch two things here: The last replay from behind the goal, when you see the defender try to get his foot on the ball from Beckham before it gets to LanDo (and failing miserably), and LanDo's ability to even get this shot off, let alone into the goal. He probably should have dumped it off to his teammate streaking wide open down the left side, but LanDo wanted that one, you can bet on it.

One more interesting note about this game: Depending on who you hear it from and what you believe, Beckham was handed the captain's armband by LanDo before the game, either by LanDo himself or because the coach Frank Yallop asked him to. Either way, it seemed to work. By all accounts, Beckham was quite the vocal leader on the pitch, shouting out instructions and encouraging his teammates. For his part, LanDo seemed very gracious about giving the captaincy to Beckham, probably for the foreseeable future.

For all the talk about Beckham having lost a step or two and not being as good as he once was, he looked pretty damn good on the pitch this night. Scoring a goal and assisting on another in a 2-0 win is pretty good stuff. Precisely what the LA Galaxy brought him here for in fact. Beckham may well have indeed lost a step or two, but Beckham minus a step or two is still better than probably 80% of this league. And this is less an indication of the talent level of the MLS than an indication of the talent level of Beckham. The guy was an absolute world-class player, and still is one of the best in the world.

So while it was only one game, it was certainly a good start. It will be interesting to see how Beckham fares throughout the entire season, and it will be nice when he is back up to match fitness and can last the entire game, and when his ankle is completely healthy. Personally i think Beckham can do exactly what he did Wednesday all through the league. That is, take some free kicks the likes of which most goalkeepers and defenders in the MLS have never seen, and also create space and scoring chances for his strikers. In particular, i think LanDo could benefit immensely from having someone as talented as Beckham set him up all the time, instead of LanDo doing the set up himself. It should let LanDo focus more on scoring goals, which is what we need from him on the National Team.

The Galaxy are back at it tonight, returning to MLS action against the New York Red Bulls, who have an emerging superstar in Jozy Altidore at striker. Gametime is 4:30 pacific time, shown on Fox Soccer Channel. If you don't get it, they will be on ESPN2 Thursday the 23rd. The MLS is an up and coming league, and it's time to start paying attention.