The boos were incessant, raining down upon David Beckham whenever he was involved in a play.
When he was introduced in the starting lineup before the game, the boos were there.
Whenever he touched the ball in the first half, the boos were there.
When he failed to connect with teammate Landon Donovan on a long ball, the boos were there.
But in the 45th minute, with the Los Angeles Galaxy trailing FC Barcelona 1-0, Beckham performed one of his trademark benders, tying the score at 1-1 with a free kick from 25 yards out.
And just like that, the once predominant boos from the largely Barcelona crowd were silenced, replaced with thunderous applause for the British soccer star.
“It’s like in golf when you hit the golf ball and you hit the sweet spot,” Beckham said of the goal.
FC Barcelona would go on to win 2-1 at the Rose Bowl Saturday night in front of 93,137 fans, the most fans to attend a soccer game in the United States since the 1994 World Cup, but for most of the Galaxy players, the result on the field was secondary to the experience.
“Obviously it’s a world-class team, the best team in the world,” Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter said. “Any time you get to compete against a team like that it’s special, and I think tonight the fans alone, the opponent, it was a great game.”
Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant, who played against FC Barcelona in 2006 as a member of the New York Red Bulls, believes that his team held its own against one of the world’s soccer powerhouses.
“We defended pretty well,” Dunivant said. “They didn’t have a ton of chances, but yeah, I’d say they had a lot of the ball, and they’re an incredibly skillful team, good passing team, and kept the ball really well. We were looking to get a result, but it was a good game for us.”
When asked if he thought anyone from Barcelona remembered him, he shook his head and jokingly said he didn’t think so.
The commissioner of Major League Soccer, Don Garber, was in attendance at the Rose Bowl and spoke at length about the importance of the night for the popularity of soccer in the United States.
“This is one of the largest crowds in the history of this sport in this country, and it’s a night to celebrate,” Garber said. “Our team is standing toe-to-toe, at least in the first half, against the best team in the world today, perhaps one of the best teams of all time.”
Garber also expressed a great level of respect for the pedigree and talent that Beckham brings to the MLS.
“David Beckham’s a world-class player, and the Galaxy are a different team, and Major League Soccer is a different league with him on the field,” Garber said.
This year, FC Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the Spanish Primera Division, the Copa del Rey, and the European Champion’s League, and proved just how supremely talented they were, notching an early goal.
In the 11th minute, Barcelona midfielder Pedro Rodriguez received a cross on the nearside of the field, drove into the box and fired a shot which Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders blocked. Barcelona forward Lionel Messi collected the ball in front of the goal, fired a shot off Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza, which Rodriguez tucked away for a goal.
Barcelona would score its second goal in the 67th minute when forward Jeffren Suarez scored after receiving an excellent through ball from midfielder Sergio Busquets.
FC Barcelona will continue it’s three-city United States tour Wednesday in Seattle against the Seattle Sounders FC, before concluding with a friendly against Mexico’s CD Guadalajara in San Francisco.
Saturday night’s game comes two weeks after the Galaxy tied AC Milan 2-2 on July 19, a night in which Beckham infamously exchanged heated words with the Galaxy fans. After the game, Beckham admitted that he did not hear the boos from the crowd.
“I didn’t really hear it tonight,” Beckham said. “It’s part of the play at the moment. It’s happening. It’s happening when I play in L.A., it’s happening when I play in other places a little bit. There’s 93,000 fans; 93,000 fans weren’t booing tonight. It was 95 percent, 97 percent of the fans have been incredible.”
Beckham added that due to his encounters with hostile and ill-tempered fans at a young age while with Manchester United, he has learned to turn boos into inspiration.
“It’s part of soccer these days and it can either inspire you or make you go into a shell, and lucky for enough it inspires me,” Beckham said.