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Beckham assists as England ties Brazil

By KRYSTYNA RUDZKI -- AP Sports Writer

WEMBLEY, England (AP) There's only one David Beckham - and England had missed him. Beckham's free kick set up John Terry for the first international goal at the new Wembley stadium, but Diego scored in the second minute of injury time Friday night to give Brazil a 1-1 exhibition tie against England.

"David was different class today," Terry said. "His delivery is superb."

It was a dream return for Beckham, dumped from the England team after last year's World Cup as his celebrity off the field threatened to overshadow his form on it.

"His delivery was exceptional, and John Terry doesn't miss from there," England coach Steve McClaren said. "It was fitting, it was apt, and it's a pity we didn't get the result."

Beckham played with the national team for the first time since the World Cup quarterfinal loss to Portugal last July 1 in Germany, and he received the loudest cheers from the crowd of 88,745 that attended England's first game in the 90,000-seat stadium, which took more than six years to build and cost $1.57 billion.

Fans cheered each time he took a free kick, played a corner kick or made a tackle, and a multitude of camera flashes went off with every free kick.

Beckham, who joins Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy next month, received a standing ovation when he came off in the 77th minute, and he was serenaded with cries of: "There's only one David Beckham."

Beckham resigned as captain the day after the World Cup loss but has played well recently for Real Madrid in Spain. He was one of England's best players against the record five-time world champion, setting up Michael Owen for three chances and putting a free kick just wide.

Terry scored in the 68th minute for England following an uneventful first half in which neither goalkeeper made a save. Diego tied the score with just one minute of injury time to play when he headed in a cross from Gilberto Silva.

England, which last played at the old Wembley in September 2000, benefited from the 63rd-minute introduction of substitutes Stewart Downing and Kieron Dyer but was largely disjointed as it warmed up for Wednesday's European Championship qualifier at Estonia.

But even a Brazil containing Ronaldinho and Kaka struggled to put together passing moves on a field that broke up from the start. Each tackle and stumble seemed to create a new divot in the turf, worn from heavy rain last month and three games in three days last weekend in the English promotion playoffs.

When McClaren took over as England coach from Sven-Goran Eriksson in August, his first decision was to drop Beckham from the national team. Beckham was seen as untouchable under Eriksson.

It was Beckham's 95th game for England and he can get closer to the 100 mark Wednesday. After that, England is off until an Aug. 22 exhibition against Germany at Wembley.

If he's chosen for the Germany game, Beckham likely will have been with the Galaxy for only three MLS games before returning to England. After that, England has qualifiers set for Sept. 8 and 12, Oct. 13 and 17 and Nov. 21.

Brazil is warming up for next month's Copa America, and coach Dunga said his players need more physical training.

"They are a little bit tired, but we still had six chances for goals and we only trained 30 minutes," Dunga said.