THE laser show and pyrotechnics were drowned out by a thunderstorm that threatened to engulf Japan’s National Stadium, but all were eclipsed by David Beckham. Real Madrid’s £25 million signing gave his legion of Japanese fans what they had been waiting for when he scored his first goal for his new club.
Seven minutes before half-time, Beckham dispatched a curling free kick with his right foot from 20 yards past a three-man wall and into the net to set Real on their way to a 3-0 win over FC Tokyo in the second match of their Asian tour. It was typical Beckham and the crowd went wild, although they would have been denied the moment had he been shown a red card rather than a yellow one for an early foul. “If that had been in the Premiership I would probably have been sent off,” he said.
The torrential rain had given fans little reason to cheer and, for the majority of women in the stadium, the weather presented another embarrassing problem. They had ditched their red Manchester United tops and bought replicas of Beckham’s new Real shirt. Authentic Real fans know from experience to wear a dark T-shirt under their white Madrid tops, but the new supporters were left hugging themselves to avoid transparency troubles.
Beckham gave his audience a few more choice moments to enjoy, but the crowd were happy rather than ecstatic. Shunji Ueno, a fan, said: “I hope Real were not being kind to FC Tokyo. We all came here tonight to watch the best team in the world humiliate the Japanese side.”
The secret hope was that Real, with their pantheon of stars, would put on the sort of show you used to get from the Harlem Globetrotters. Despite some excellent trickery that led to a lovely goal from Ronaldo in the 44th minute, what the crowd got was the kind of workmanlike victory a manager dreams of in mid-season.