Two weeks after his 12-minute appearance against Chelsea, Beckham made his league debut as a substitute on 9 August away versus D.C. United in front of the sellout crowd of 46,686 (nearly three times the average D.C. United home crowd) at the RFK Stadium, coming on for Quavas Kirk in the 71st minute. Coming into the nationally televised match on ESPN, played under a heavy downpour with his team down a man and down a goal, Beckham left a mark during the remaining 20-plus minutes. He hit a long free kick that Carlos Pavón failed to finish on for the equaliser, and then in the final minutes Beckham served a weighted through ball into Landon Donovan's path that United's keeper Troy Perkins managed to break up in the last moment – the Galaxy lost 1–0. The next match on the road trip was at New England Revolution and Beckham decided to sit it out, fearing further aggravating his ankle injury on the Gillette Stadium's artificial surface.