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For the Galaxy, a Star Is Reborn
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"He is the one who orchestrates everything, but it's like run-and-gun with the Galaxy," United midfielder Santino Quaranta said of a club averaging 2.38 goals and conceding a league-worst 1.85. "I haven't seen anything like it yet this year, so it's going to be a great test for us."
While Beckham's level of play has risen, his appeal has held steady. Though tickets to Galaxy road games are not selling at last year's feverish pace, Beckham remains a box-office hit. In anticipation of his league debut last summer at RFK, United sold all 46,686 tickets well in advance of the game. This time, about 13,000 tickets remained yesterday afternoon. Nonetheless, today's turnout might be twice as much as United's home average (18,651).
Los Angeles (6-4-3) leads MLS in home attendance with an average of 25,142 at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center and is by far the biggest road draw at 25,317. The largest turnout this season was 39,872 at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., for a match against the expansion San Jose Earthquakes. In three weeks, the Galaxy will visit Giants Stadium, where last year 66,237 watched a 5-4 Los Angeles loss to the New York Red Bulls.
"The league is growing, the sport is growing here, and he has been great drawing attention to it," United Coach Tom Soehn said.
Unlike last year, Beckham has been with the team since the start of the season, and unlike last year, he has remained healthy -- factors that have allowed him to forge an early bond with teammates.
"For us, we could see in the little bits he trained [last year] what he can bring to a team," Galaxy defender Chris Klein said. "But you can't fully appreciate that until you have him day in and day out and see how hard he works and the professionalism he brings. You can't do that in spurts, and he is not the type of guy who does his job in spurts. To have him do it consistently has been great for the guys."
As for his return to Washington, Beckham is strictly business. Last year, he toured the town and was escorted to the White House.
"I was proud and happy to have done all of that -- I really wanted to see the city -- but this year I am just relaxing," Beckham said.
He then offered the grin that has helped make him a global idol and added, "To be honest, it's just too hot to go outside."
United Notes: Midfielder Ben Olsen, who has not played this season because of a career-threatening ankle ailment, was upgraded to doubtful on the club's injury list, leading to speculation that he will be included on the active roster today or, more likely, Tuesday night for the U.S. Open Cup round-of-16 game against the second-tier Rochester Rhinos at Maryland SoccerPlex. He declined an interview request. . . . Forward Francis Doe, whose return from Liberian national team duty was delayed several days by passport and visa issues, was back at practice yesterday. . . . Midfielder-defender Domenic Mediate is recovering from a concussion and will not be in uniform.
