David Beckham scored a spectacular goal from a free kick during tonight's friendly between the LA Galaxy and Sydney FC. He received a huge reception from the crowd, who held their breath when he appeared injured and cheered when it seemed that he was in fact ok. Sydney won the match 5-3. Match summary. You can see some highlights and Becks goal online here in the video 'Beckham Bender not enough to save Galaxy.'

Thanks to Sara here are photos from the match.

(Source) After the match Becks gave a press conference and told the media he had been concerned that he had re-injured himself, "I was worried at first because I felt as if I'd twisted my ankle again and done the same thing, injury I had on the last game of the season with Real Madrid," he said.

"It wasn't as bad - it just caught under the guy that slid in. It's all part of the game. It's fine."

Asked why he refused to leave the field, Becks said: "I always try to stay on whether I'm injured or get kicked in games. It's part of the game and I'm quite a stubborn person and when I want to play and when I want to stay on there's not many people who can convince me to come off."

"I was happy to stay on the whole game. I wanted to play. So many fans turn out and they expect you to perform and to be out there for as much time as possible."

Becks also said he was relieved and pleased to score, "It was nice to obviously get a free kick ... it's my first time here so it was nice to score here... I think in that situation there’s always a certain amount of pressure on me to score because I think that people expect you to do it every time there’s a free kick given in that position."

I was also just really happy to score tonight just because of the amount of fans and the attention that there has been on myself and obviously on this game tonight.

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New Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit admitted he considered subbing Becks saying, "He didn't have any injury, he had a knock, that can happen," Gullit explained.

"But it was tempting (to take him off). I had a lot of difficulties with my own substitutions - I didn't have many players here - so he couldn't be (replaced)."

"Also I had a feeling that he liked the game. It's an environment every player wants to play, 80,000 people."

"He knows also his responsibility to come here. He wanted to make that effort. He wants to win, he wants to perform."

Speaking of David Beckham's performance, the former Newcastle and Chelsea coach said, "I am happy with the effort of David. He played really well. He scored a marvellous goal, so the crowd got what it wanted. I am very happy with his performance."

There's a really cute clip of Becks "going walkabout" in Sydney earlier today to everyone's delight at MSN, the video is called 'Beckham enraptures Sydney'

David Beckham appeared on The BBC's Inside Sport last night, there is a 20 minute clip on the BBC site. If you have trouble with that link try this one and select the clip dated Nov 27

Here is the David Beckham interview that aired on TVNZ from yesterday for those of you who had trouble viewing it. Thanks to Sara for putting it on You Tube.