LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The Los Angeles Galaxy's website has been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until superstar David Beckham joins the Major League Soccer team.
But does anyone besides hard-core soccer fans, admirers of the dashing and fashionable Englishman or paparazzi care in a country where interest in the sport known overseas as football has never registered more than a blip?
``I'm not quite sure why, but Americans think soccer's boring,'' said Doug Wood, a 25-year-old lawyer from Los Angeles.
Converting hearts and minds about a sport called ``The Beautiful Game'' will likely be Beckham's No. 1 challenge.
``He knows soccer isn't huge in America yet and he's hoping to change that,'' his wife Victoria said. ``He's so passionate about what he does and he's excited to get there and do what he can.''
Six months of waiting ends Friday with Beckham's introduction at the Galaxy's stadium in Carson, Calif. He's set to play his first game July 21, an exhibition against Chelsea of the English Premier League. Beckham signed a five-year contract in January worth US
