Beckham Does Australia

Sydney has been buzzing over the past few days - the world's most famous metrosexual David Beckham was in town, with his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates, for an exhibition match against the glamor team of the Australian A-League, Sydney FC.

Becks arrived over the weekend and was a hit. The usual thing. Seeing cancer patients (but not actually curing them). Doing some promo for his perfume. Being mobbed while out for a stroll along Darling Harbour.

Then they played the match tonight, before a crowd of over 80,000. Beckham played well - the usual ability to pass a ball sixty yards and drop it right at his team-mate's foot. Good vision, even did a professional foul when necessary.

And, in the 44th minute, following a foul a few yards out of the penalty area, Beckham struck one of his famous free kicks to beat the Sydney goalkeeper and score his first goal in Australia. The crowd loved it.

The game itself was pretty entertaining, and both teams played hard. LA, maybe looking to impress their new manager, former Dutch international and Chelsea player-manager Ruud Gullit, started off strong and dominated the early play. Former US international Clint Mathis looked pretty good in his first game in this stint with LA. But in the 19th minute, very much against the run of play, Brazilian international and the #1 player in the A-League, Juninho, scored a goal that seemed to deflate LA. Beckham's goal brought it to 3-1, and Edson Buddle scored a nice goal early in the second half to make it 3-2, but more sloppy play by LA's defense and the goalie Joe Cronin put the game out of reach. US international Landon Donovan, who also played well, scored a late consolation goal to make it 5-3.

So Sydney FC won some bragging rights for the A-League in this first exhibition between A-League and MLS teams. But it doesn't prove anything. The Galaxy, despite the presence of Beckham and Donovan, are far from the best MLS team, and their terrible defensive gaffes this game showed that. Gullit has his work cut out for him.

And Australia awaits word of whether Becks will return to Australia when his wife Victoria comes down under with the rest of the reunited Spice Girls...