David Beckham has been benched for 8 weeks since he sprained his left ankle on June 6 in a qualifier match for the European championship between England’s national team and Estonia. He’s hardly earning his $250 million paycheck from L.A. Galaxy. He’s definitely boosted ticket sales, but if he continues to be sidelined than revenue is likely to suffer.

Sunday’s match at Boston’s Gillette stadium between L.A. Galaxy and New England Revolution is sold out, as is tonight’s soccer match in RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. against D.C. United. A lot of that is due to Beckham’s celebrity draw, which is rather unique in the sport of soccer.

In a press conference yesterday in Washington DC, Beckham said he wouldn’t start in tonight’s game, but that “hopefully, I’ll play some part of it.”

Boston fans are also hopeful that Beckham will strut his golden stuff at their match in three days, but it’s likely to only be for a short time.

Beckham trained for the first time with LA Galaxy just yesterday at RFK stadium in Washington DC. He was said to have only participated in “light training” and his ankle is still giving him trouble.

The manager of the England national football team, Steve McClaren, is set to visit Beckham in the states today, but Beckham doesn’t think that he’ll get to see him play that much. He thinks he’ll be good for about ten minutes play, and that he “can’t really apologise for being injured.”

But Beckham said that if McClaren was hoping to watch him play against DC United, he would see only him coming off the bench for a few minutes at best. The midfielder is struggling with an ankle injury that threatens to prevent him from playing in England’s Aug 22 friendly against Germany…

“I spoke to Steve a couple of days ago,” Beckham said. “We spoke about how my fitness was and how my ankle was. But whether it’s worth him coming over to see me for just 10 minutes I’m not so sure.”

Beckham took part in light training with his team-mates at the RFK Stadium yesterday – the first time he has practised along with the rest of the team since joining the club – but his ankle injury continues to bother him.

“He did train,” a Galaxy spokesman said. “He’s still doubtful for the game.”

DC United have sold all 45,000 tickets for a game that will be nationally televised.

Beckham, 32, added: “It’s an injury that everyone knew about when I first arrived. There will obviously be people who don’t understand, but I can’t really apologise for being injured, it’s a way of life for a sportsman. I’m hoping to spend some time on the field but that’s not definite yet.”

[From Telegraph.co.uk]

And rumor has it that the New England Revolution and the New England Patriots are setting up a hunky sports star pregame photo opportunity featuring David Beckham and new soon-to-be dad and fellow sports celebrity Tom Brady. Beckham has got to earn that quarter of a billion somehow. [Details from Boston Herald]

Here are pictures of Beckham at the press conference yesterday. Thanks to WENN.