MONTREAL - David Beckham bent in a corner kick in the 62nd minute as the Los Angeles Galaxy earned a 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact before a record crowd Saturday at Olympic Stadium.
Davy Arnaud put Montreal ahead early and it was enough to keep the expansion Impact unbeaten in their last four games and without a loss in their four home games this season. The Galaxy are without a victory in their last four matches.
Olympic Stadium was jammed with 60,860 spectators, a record for a professional soccer match in Canada, to see the Impact's first showdown with the defending MLS champion Galaxy and Beckham, their star midfielder and England's former captain.
There was a mix of boos and cheers each time Beckham played the ball, even when he scored on one of his patented free kicks that curled inside the right post from 23 yards in the 62nd minute to even the score.
Beckham's second goal of the season came six minutes after he was shown the yellow card for an elbow to the face of Felipe Martins, which may have been embellished by the Brazilian.
L.A.'s best chance of the opening 45 minutes came on a deftly bent corner kick by the Englishman that 'keeper Donovan Ricketts punched out of danger.
After controlling most of the first half, Montreal were on their heels for much of the second as they tried to protect their lead against one of the league's most skillful attacks.
The Impact began the match playing long balls and it paid off in the eighth minute when a Nelson Rivas bomb up the middle was let go by Bernado Corradi to slip past defender Dan Keat.
Arnaud darted in to take it and go in alone, scoring with a flick of the right foot past goalkeeper Brian Perk.
It was after Rivas took down Landon Donovan just outside the box that Beckham scored, and L.A. kept the pressure, forcing Ricketts to make a point blank save on Robbie Keane.
The attendance topped the 60,342 that turned out to a Vancouver Whitecaps match in 1983.
It was a second big crowd of the season for Montreal, who drew 58,912 to their home opener on March 17 against the Chicago Fire.
Notes: Montreal moved Hassoun Camara to left back replacing Tyson Wahl and had Davy Arnaud at forward in Sanna Nyassi's spot. . . . L.A. had four new starters from last week, including Brian Perk in goal for former Impact Bill Gaudette, as well as defender Keat and midfielders Kyle Nakazawa and Michael Stephens. Perk was listed as questionable this week with a sports hernia.
