The Final Score: Azkals vs David Beckham and the physics of a spectacle

There was stunned silence inside the Rizal Memorial Stadium for about two seconds. Was it shock? Was it the purest form of inexplicable delirium? David Beckham fired a curveball into the net. Before screaming in delight, before jumping off their seats, fans looked at each other. Some looked at me. I looked back at them with the same expression. Perplexed. Baffled. The crowd needed a moment to digest, well, the moment. "I haven't done that in a few years," Beckham admitted afterwards. Maybe the initial silence was reverence. This wasn't just Beckham the TMZ celebrity. This was Beckham the legend. Manchester United icon. Son of Old Trafford. World Cup ambassador. Real Madrid star. Football immortal. For Phil Younghusband, the Philippines' own Sultan of Shrieks, the initial silence, his moment of shock, was awe.

"To score in the same game as David Beckham, to score in the same game as my hero was special," Younghusband said. There's a natural explanation for Beckham's goal. It's not magic. Even if it looks like it is.  There is likewise a natural reason for Younghusband's reaction. Beckham is a cause. Phil is an effect. The idol and his follower. But it's also the other way around. Phil and the Azkals are the cause. Beckham, or Beckham's once-improbable stay in Manila, is the effect. Action led to reaction. The rise of the Azkals sparked the emergence of a sport. Football's rise in the Philippines hauled the L.A. Galaxy into town. Such forces compelled Liverpool fan Paolo Carbonell to wait at the very last minute, and wisely so, to purchase a ticket for the discounted price of PHP 10,300.00. "It's one of those rare times when we can see Beckham up close," Paolo said. "I don't know if we'll ever see another football athlete like him come to the Philippines." Wait. Who needed Beckham when Manny Pacquiao was in attendance? Who needed Posh Spice when Jinkee Pacquiao was just a few rows away from us? Who needed the Galaxy when he have the Azkals? The spectacle was both invasion and re-invention. They visited. We learned. It revealed our weaknesses. It highlighted their strengths. It made us consider team chemistry. It made organizers evaluate ticket pricing. It exposed our passions, both old and new. The Galaxy met Phil and Chieffy. The world discovered us. And we discovered something about ourselves. Was that for real? Beckham kicked the ball, made it spin, created a force so strong, a trajectory so precise, it seemed to curve at his command. As if Roger Clemens pitched a wicked curveball, with his foot. Fans have seen Beckham bend it like Beckham many times before. But never this way and never this close. Beckham bent space and time to score a goal against the Philippine Azkals. A fusion of the old and new Beckham. A special moment during our new-found celebration of the grand old game. And the crowd, in the ensuing blur, responded with joy they could not express. - GMA News