Becks back but pain will not go away

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David Beckham finally made his long-awaited competitive debut for LA Galaxy on Thursday night but remains a huge doubt for England's vital Euro 2008 qualifiers.

The midfielder came on as a 72ndminute substitute against DC United in Washington and was watched from the stands by Steve McClaren.

David Beckham applauds the fans (left) after finally making his MLS debut while (right) he shows his disappointment at the final whistle

Come in No23: Beckham's number is raised as he makes his appearance as sub

But if the England coach had been hoping for a sign that Beckham was ready to resume his pursuit of a century of caps against Germany at Wembley on 22 August, he left disappointed.

Beckham failed to lift Galaxy on the pitch as they lost 1-0 and then admitted that his ankle is still causing him a lot of discomfort and, worringly, that he expects to have a "reaction" to playing in Washington.

He said: "There was tenderness [in the ankle] and I'm sure there will be for a while because it's not an injury that just clears up and gets perfect right away.

"There's going to be a certain amount of reaction from it. But it's a big forward step for me tonight. Getting 20 minutes, I was happy for that."

Dead ball specialist: David Beckham fires in a trademark free-kick

Whether that will be enough to convince McClaren to hand Beckham his 97th cap against the Germans remains to be seen.

No doubt he will be in the squad but if he is still finding it hard to play in Major League Soccer, McClaren may decide the 32-year-old is not worth the risk in the must-win home games against Israel on 8 September and against Russia four days later.

At last: Fans are delighted to Becks arrive in DC

"It was great for me to be back on the pitch," he said. "I'm happy to actually get out there and kick a ball.

"Everybody knows that the standard is different, it's slightly lower than other places in the world.

"We're hoping to make this sport bigger and better here. There's still a way to go, of course, but we're on the right track.

"Even though we lost the game tonight, we can take some good from it because we played better than we did [in the 0-0 draw] against Toronto.

"But we still lost the game, so we're disappointed. We had enough chances to win the game. But that's football - sometimes you win, sometimes, you lose."

Substitute appearance: David Beckham showed some nice touches during his 20 minutes on the field

A capacity crowd of 46,686 turned up at RFK Stadium on a wild, wet and windy night and every time Beckham touched the ball the noise was intense.

"It was a great reaction, very honouring," Beckham added. "My biggest concern was that those were the biggest raindrops I had ever seen. They're much bigger than back home. That was more worrying than anything.

"I think the rain made it fun. The majority of the fans were getting all wet and it made it a bit more enjoyable. I'm used to that from living in England. I like it when the ground is wet."

 

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