Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in nearby Carson, California David Beckham made his American soccer debut for Los Angeles Galaxy. Despite fears that an ankle injury would sideline him for his first game, Beckham did indeed play, about 13 minutes in the second half of the exhibition match against Chelsea. (Chelsea won, 1-0.)

The stadium was full of fans and many celebrities turned out including Victoria Beckham cheering for her husband in a box with their three children, as well as Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise and Tom Cruise’s mother Mary Lee Mapother, EvaLongoria, Olsen, Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy, Alicia Silverstone and rocker husband Chris Jarecki, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Drew Carey.

The sold-out stadium crowd erupted in cheers even when Beckham simply stood up from the bench and began stretching. And chants of "Beckham, Beckham" took over the stadium as he entered the game after the 77th minute.

At the press conference following the game Beckham said of his injury, "The ankle has swollen up slightly, but that was going to happen. We’ll see how it is tomorrow."

"It was a good performance from the team," he added. "We just lost one nil. My 15 minutes, it was nice to get out there. I haven’t trained all week. I hadn’t kicked a ball yet today. It was just nice to be out there with the lads and get this game over and done with. I enjoyed it."

Today the Beckhams will attend the "Welcome to L.A." party, hosted by the Cruises, and cohosts Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles.

The hottest item at the game, besides David, were the Galaxy T-shirts. The one who stole the show was cute little Suri with her million and one facial expressions.

Related posts:

• Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ross McCall Split
• Katie Holmes Will Not Escort Tom Cruise to Golden Globe Awards
• Tom Cruise on David Letterman Top Ten List
• Tom Cruise on The Today Show
• Tom Cruise Sings on Jay Leno