updated 11:31 a.m. ET Jan. 13, 2007

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. - David Beckham may be a fading sports megastar, hoping to someday top a marquee on the Sunset Strip. Or he might still create magic with a soccer ball, trying to make his new team better and popularize the game in America.

Or perhaps he’ll make his mark in both gritty Carson, where the Los Angeles Galaxy play, and Hollywood.

Forgetting for the moment that Beckham’s wife, Victoria, is a former Spice Girl, that they rank Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes among their best friends, and that one of Hollywood’s premier talent agencies negotiated his Galaxy contract, Beckham tried to focus on soccer.

“I’m coming there not be a superstar,” the 31-year-old Beckham said Friday via satellite from Madrid. “I’m coming there to be part of the team, to work hard and to hopefully win things.

“With me, it’s about football. I’m coming there to make a difference. I’m coming there to play football.”

It’s all about football in Spain, too. Coach Fabio Capello said Saturday that Beckham will not play again for the Real Madrid team at which former England captain remains under contract until June 30.

“He is not going to play any more. He will practice, but he is not going to play,” Capello said at a news conference.

Reporters were not allowed to pose questions. Instead, a moderator did the asking.

Dressed in a black suit with white shirt and black tie, Beckham said he hopes to work with American youngsters and keep them interested in soccer when they are finished with youth leagues.

He’s joining a so-so team in Major League Soccer, considered sort of bush league by fans in the more fervent soccer countries around the world.

“I’m not saying me coming over to the States is going to make soccer the biggest sport in America. That would be difficult to achieve,” Beckham said. “Baseball, basketball, American football, they’ve been around.

“But I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I could make a difference.”

Tim Leiweke of AEG, the sports and entertainment company that runs the Galaxy, believes Beckham can make a huge difference.

“Certainly, he will bring an audience, a fan base and an intensity to our sport that we’ve never had,” Leiweke said.

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The AEG president said Beckham is far from done.

“David is still a very good player,” Leiweke said. “Peyton Manning in football, the other football, Allen Iverson in basketball and Tiger Woods in golf are all the same age as Beckham.”

Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas, who was one of America’s best-known players, said the decision to sign Beckham “was based on soccer.”

“At the end of the day, this team needs to win on the field,” Lalas said.

Lalas said he did not think Beckham should be blamed for the lack of success by either Real Madrid or England’s national team.

“It’s an easy way out to blame David,” Lalas said. “And to be fair, he has a target on him. And that’s OK, that’s the pressure he plays under. But the mediocrity of different teams at different times and the blame that’s put on him, I think that’s unfair.

“He’s 31 years old and I think he has some of his best soccer ahead of him. And he’s facing a new challenge. What could be a fresher start for him than to come to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy?”

Beckham plans to fulfill his contract with Real Madrid before heading for the United States. He is not expected to join the Galaxy, whose MLS season begins in April, until August.

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