U.S. is no match for England

LONDON -- Credible but pretty much toothless, the United States men's soccer team did play a role Wednesday night in the humongous Wembley theater.

It served as a backdrop, as scenery for another England national team saga.

Fortunately for the majority English among the 71,223 in attendance, this particular saga involved David Beckham, John Terry, a whole heap of fine sentiment and a 2-0 England win, as opposed to the usual English accompaniments of muddled offense and angst.

"It was good for everyone except probably 30 or so of us," said Landon Donovan, the American and Galaxy employee who missed snaring his 100th U.S. cap because of a groin injury.

Not that England dredged any tears from a friendly or anything, but a rather poignant free kick did come from the man many came to applaud, Beckham, on his first England match since earning his 100th England cap in March in Paris.

About 38 minutes after English soccer royalty Sir Bobby Charlton presented Beckham with a golden cap in a glass case (for his 100th cap) so hefty that Beckham later joked he couldn't lift it over his head, Beckham sent a typically adroit curler into the wall in front of the American goal. "That's obviously my job," said the dead-ball maestro.

Once Beckham's cross found an unmarked Terry, who poked his way into the wall and used the left edge of his skull to direct it skipping to the left of U.S. goalie Tim Howard and into the net. That pleased the patrons because only seven nights prior, the Chelsea mainstay Terry missed a penalty kick in Moscow that would've won the European Champions League, possibly spiraling him into a lifetime of REM nightmares.

Having found some salve, Terry ran pretty madly toward Beckham and gave him a long, tight hug, of which Beckham said, "You could see the emotion in him, in his eyes once he scored that goal. There was a slight relief for him."

While England had a fine little night rife with roster tinkering from first-year Italian manager Fabio Capello and outright dazzles from stars Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney, the Americans threatened only mildly, usually from Eddie Johnson on the right. In Donovan's opinion, they regressed from their heady 3-0 win over Poland in March as they lifted the lid on three straight matches against hard, fast, high-brow soccer countries, with Spain and Argentina to follow.