Celebrity-packed LA crowd goes wild as Beckham bends to do his laces

Any fears that the England footballer's debut for LA Galaxy might fall flat were triumphantly dispelled at the weekend as spectators greeted his every move with wild celebration.

It was not until the 78th minute that 32-year-old Beckham, who is nursing an ankle injury, hobbled on to the pitch. He played for a mere 16 minutes and 19 seconds, touching the ball only 12 times and suffering a painful blow to that troublesome ankle.

But that was enough to send the 27,000-strong crowd into raptures - and earn him another £1million.

Being LA, the only cameras not pointed at the new golden boy of American soccer were trained on the celebrities concentrated in a cluster around his wife Victoria.

There were two of the Beckham boys, Brooklyn, eight, and Cruz, two, playing with their one-year-old neighbour Suri Cruise while her mother Katie Holmes tried to combine keeping an eye on the children with watching events on the pitch.

There was Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, British actors John Hurt and Ray Winstone and, of course, the Beckhams' manager Simon Fuller, pulling strings from the executive box.

Saturday's friendly match against Chelsea attracted a full house to the Home Depot Centre in Carson, about 15 miles south of Los Angeles. Among the spectators was the London club's owner Roman Abramovich, making a rare public appearance with girlfriend Daria Zhukova.

Some of the crowd might have been a little unsure of their geography - one man in a Frank Lampard jersey opined: "Chelsea is a town in London, right next to Newcastle."

When the teams ran out, there was near-silence as they searched the unfamiliar faces for the man with the stubble. Then the first big roar of the day went up when Beckham was spotted trotting around the touchline.

All but six of the hordes of photographers and cameramen surrounded him as he reached the halfway line, totally ignoring the announcer introducing Chelsea's superstars. From then on, he could not move without thunderous applause.

"It made me feel a little embarrassed at times," Beckham confessed after the match, which Chelsea won 1-0.

But he added: "It was nice to get out there and kick a soccer ball again. I haven't trained in weeks."

Waking up at his Beverly Hills mansion yesterday morning with a throbbing ankle, he might have rued the decision to join the fray.

There was another big event to attend last night - a star-studded "Welcome to LA" party thrown by actors Tom Cruise and Will Smith at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art.

And he definitely wasn't going to miss that.

Video: Beckham makes his debut

Meanwhile, another team of famous faces hit the "soccer" pitch in Beverly Hills.

And it looks like the match took its toll on actors Vinnie Jones, a former pro, and Ray Winstone.

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Hollywood United is a pub team comprising global stars from Vinnie and his Snatch sidekick Jason Statham, to former Sex Pistol Steve Jones.

The celebrity team was playing to raise money for torture survivors.