Beckham looks past glitzy presentation, toward first game
(AP)Updated: 2007-07-14 20:02
CARSON, California _ David Beckham has been dropped on the doorstep of Los Angeles, wrapped in a package of a chic gray suit for fawning fans and anxious media.
Now it's time to see what he can do with a jersey on.
After six months of anticipation, the Los Angeles Galaxy showed off their new $32 million (euro23 million) man Friday amid cannon-fired confetti, a rock soundtrack and shrieks of glee.
"Becks" will now treat a twisted ankle and settle into his Beverly Hills mansion before starting practice with the team sometime next week.
His first game is against a familiar opponent _ Chelsea FC of the English Premier League on July 21.
Before that, he'll start trying to convince his fellow players, many of whom make about a 50th of what he'll take in, that he's a devoted teammate and regular guy, something he had to struggle with even among his peers in Europe.
"The biggest challenge is the perception of me as a person," he said. "Not with people around the U.S., but with my teammates. I'm sure they've read things and seen the circus and everything that comes with me, and that's possibly my biggest challenge.
"It was at Real Madrid and it will be here."
Beckham injured his left ankle playing for England on June 6, then aggravated it again playing in his last game for Real Madrid, bringing fears he might have to miss his planned American debut.
"I jogged on it for the first day three days ago, and it felt slightly unstable still," he said. "Hopefully I'll be training by the middle of next week and I'm ready for the game."
He called the team's medical staff "physios" rather than trainers, part of a series of trans-Atlantic slips he made Friday as he tried to adjust to American soccer terminology, including the name of the game itself.
It's football to the rest of the world, and Beckham kept getting "soccer" stuck in his throat.
"I've called it football my whole life," he said, smiling. "Calling it soccer is not a problem for me. Well, at the moment it is because I keep getting it mixed up, but at some point I'll get it after a couple of weeks."
Beckham drove himself to his new workplace, the Home Depot Center, in a new luxury SUV, from his sprawling new home in Beverly Hills, where he calls Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes friends and neighbors.
"Now my family have moved to Los Angeles, something we're looking forward to, something we're very proud of, and in our life everything's perfect," he said.
Reflecting his tie to Hollywood, Beckham had to field several questions about TomKat.
"I was actually asked if Tom and Katie bought that (sport utility vehicle)
for me," he said. "I said, 'No, I've got two new cars at my house and I
definitely bought them myself."'
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