Beckham arrives in Australia

David Beckham makes a promotional appearance with his team mates during a soccer match in Sydney. Photo / Reuters

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SYDNEY - Former England captain David Beckham arrived in Australia on Sunday to join his LA Galaxy team preparing for the friendly match against A-League side Sydney FC on Tuesday.

Beckham, a second-half substitute in England's 3-2 Euro 2008 qualifying loss to Croatia in London on Wednesday, flew in by private jet.

"I'm very happy to be here. I've never been to this country before and it's somewhere I've wanted to visit for a long time," the 32-year-old Beckham said.

"It took me 22 hours to get here but it's more than worth it."

Beckham and the Galaxy squad are due to be presented to the crowd during halftime of Sunday evening's A-League match between Sydney and Queensland Roar.

Galaxy's new coach Ruud Gullit, US international Landon Donovan, Sydney coach John Kosmina, captain Tony Popovic and the Australian team's Brazilian midfielder Juninho also attended the news conference.

The match on Tuesday at Sydney's Olympic Stadium will be Gullit's first in charge of the Major League Soccer team since being appointed this month. A crowd of 80,000 is expected to attend the game.

Beckham and the Galaxy squad will remain in Australia until Thursday before they head to New Zealand for Saturday's match against the Wellington Phoenix.

- REUTERS