CARSON, Calif. – David Beckham began his daunting challenge to convert America into a soccer-mad nation with an uneventful 12-minute debut for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.\nBeckham got into the exhibition against Chelsea in the 78th minute, jogging onto the field amid huge cheers and a sea of camera flashes from the sold-out crowd of 27,000.\n“The atmosphere is incredible,” he said after Chelsea’s 1-0 victory.\nThe 32-year-old midfielder spent most of the game on the bench because of a nagging left ankle injury.\nThere were cheers each time Beckham touched the ball, the highlight being a corner kick he took in stoppage time. After taking about 10 minutes to get loose on the sideline, he entered as a substitute for Alan Gordon, who slapped hands with the English superstar before Beckham took the field for the first time.\n“I’m not fit. I haven’t trained since I got here,” he said. “But it’s nice to be out there.”\nChelsea captain John Terry scored in the 49th minute on a 19-yard shot that ricocheted off the right post and left post before caroming into the net.\nBeckham got off the bench in the 66th minute to warm up, exciting fans who had waited most of the game to see him. He jogged up and down the sidelines and a roar went up when Beckham tapped an out-of-bounds ball back to the referee, his first kick of the night.\nHe briefly ran off the field with the Galaxy’s trainer before returning and peeling off his warmup shirt to reveal his favored long-sleeved jersey on a warm night when the other players wore short sleeves.\nBeckham’s debut was crazy from the start. When he took his seat on the end of a metal bench, he was quickly surrounded by about 100 photographers pushing and shoving to get a shot.\nHe calmly took in the scene as the scrum furiously snapped away within inches of him before being shoved back by about 10 security guards. He chatted with teammate Peter Vagenas while the Galaxy’s starting lineup on the field was all but ignored.\nBeckham’s wife Victoria, wearing her trademark huge black sunglasses, along with actress Katie Holmes and her infant daughter Suri, watched from a private box above the field.\nAs expected, Beckham didn’t start the game or join his new teammates in pre-game warmups.\nDressed in a blue pullover jersey, white shorts and knee-high white socks, Beckham sat hunched over watching the action and stood up to applaud a couple of near-miss scoring chances by his teammates.\nWith the game scoreless at halftime, he walked across the field waving to fans before disappearing into the tunnel.\nNot everyone cheered the Galaxy. Chelsea of the English Premier League had its own blue-clad fans in a corner of the stadium.\nIn the two hours leading up to the game, fans sipped drinks in the shade at a bar on a plaza outside the stadium and checked out merchandise stands. A variety of Beckham T-shirts and jerseys were on sale, with the top price $100.\nA few thousand even bothered to watch the warmup act, a game between Mexican club team Tigres UANL and Korea’s Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Tigres won 3-0.\nA red carpet was rolled out for the Beckhams’ new Hollywood pals – a roped-off area at the palm-lined suites entrance to the stadium. A handful of fans were gathered outside the ropes, along with the ever-present paparazzi.
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AP Sports Writer Ken Peters and Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
