FRISCO, Texas — When scalpers are converging at Pizza Hut Park to hawk FC Dallas tickets — for an exhibition charity match, no less — you know something's up.

Yup. Becks was in town.

Yesterday, English soccer star David Beckman made his first appearance in Dallas since he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy. The game was a makeup of last July's soldout SuperLiga match between the Galaxy and FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, which Beckham did not attend because he had an injured ankle. His absence rankled the local soccer faithful, many of whom paid big prices for tickets.

That spurred the Galaxy's appearance at yesterday's FC Dallas Foundation Charity Game, which finished in a scoreless tie.

Although every seat wasn't filled, attendance was announced at 20,500 and declared a sellout.

The fans seemed to enjoy it. They rumbled excitedly and rose to their feet as cameras flashed for each of Beckham's eight corner kick attempts. The crowd roared when Beckham was assessed a yellow card for dissent in the 87th minute. It grew louder when Beckham got into a heated argument with Andre Rocha, FC Dallas' Brazilian midfielder.

That problem, it seems, was lost in translation.

"Rocha doesn't speak English, and Beckham doesn't speak Portuguese," FC Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala said with a wry smile.

The game was more than an exhibition for Beckham. England's assistant coach, Franco Baldini, was in attendance to assess Beckham, who hopes to get a national team callup for a March 26 friendly against France. Beckham is looking to become the fifth English player to get 100 caps.

Four reporters flew in from England to cover yesterday's match.

"People might think there was added pressure on my side," Beckham said. "But there was no added pressure on my side. I just have to go out and play the balls I can play, work hard and show that I'm fit enough."

About 200 people waited to catch a glimpse of Beckham as the Galaxy's team bus pulled in to the complex about 90 minutes before kickoff.

Several wore replicas of Beckham's No. 23 Galaxy uniform. One fan held up a No. 23 Dallas Cowboys jersey with Beckham's last name on the back as the bus, which was escorted by the Frisco Police Department, arrived.

Beckham took a quick glimpse at the crowd before heading into the locker room.

"All that for 10 seconds?" one fan asked.

"At least he turned around," another said.

After the game, Beckham said he reunited with the family of Sam and Christine Acala and son Michael of Dallas, who served as his host family for the 1989 Dallas Cup. Beckham beamed when he was asked about the reunion.

"It was amazing, because he (Sam) hasn't changed, not at all," Beckham said. "He was telling me that he still has the truck that he used to take me to training in. I promised him the next time I'm here that maybe I'll go over to the house for dinner. It was nice to see them, because I had been wondering and searching for them for a few years because they looked after me so well when I was here last."