aside from actually playing -- when he played against United in a league game on Aug. 9 at RFK Stadium. But on Wednesday, he scored a historic goal for his new club.
"He came to play today," Soehn said.
Beckham's tally -- his first in a Galaxy uniform -- was the first free kick he'd shot on goal in eight weeks. A gimpy ankle has limited to just one full training session with the Galaxy, and that was on Tuesday morning.
Training has been out of the question for a while but something not up for debate is Beckham's set-piece ability.
Still, both Soehn and United 'keeper Troy Perkins said defending against the free kick could have been better.
"The free kick I thought Troy ... has got to count on his wall a little bit better. He has got to take care of his side of the goal," Soehn said. "But it was a great strike."
For his part, the 'keeper said he did not disagree with the coach's assessment.
"He hit it well but I wasn't in a good spot on it either and he caught me," Perkins said. "When you get a player who can hit a ball to either side, you've got to keep to one side and make him beat you. If I was in a good spot, maybe he has to put it over the wall. That's my fault."
Beckham said his free-kick goal had a bit of luck involved, which Soehn did not dispute. However, while the ball bounced the Galaxy's way, the luck United had was the wrong kind of fortune.
"He can hit a ball better than most and (you) eliminate any free kicks around the box," Soehn said. "You don't want to give away any unnecessary free kicks."
But when Devon McTavish was whistled for a handball, chance was not on United's side.
"We were a bit unfortunate on that one," Soehn said. "It was just a deflection and it hit his arm."
Beckham then created the Galaxy's second early in the second half, when his perfect pass inside Josh Gros sprung Landon Donovan for a breakaway that he coolly finished past Perkins.
Beckham's performance notwithstanding, United players did themselves in by not showing up.
"When you evaluate guy's performances especially in big games, or any games for that matter, you go down the line and look at how many guys had good games. You could probably count on one hand the guys who had good games for us today," Soehn said. "Especially in big games like this, you can't have that because the teams are too even."
The Galaxy had several other scoring opportunities as Galaxy players at times knifed through D.C.'s defense. Edson Buddle had a few looks on goal as Galaxy midfielders had space to send crosses into the penalty area throughout the match.
Still, the buzz before and after the match centered on Beckham. For his sake, Soehn said Beckham showed his star power in the match.
"He's going to be a good influence on our league and you could see the guy can play," Soehn said.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
