New York ? Absent a soccer ball, a Spice Girl or a free-kick opportunity, David Beckham appears rather ordinary sitting Monday in front of international photographers who ignore commands to stop flashing bulbs in the face of England’s captain.

His demeanor is soft, his voice famously whiny. Beckham is at the moment out of stupid hair tricks. He presents himself conventionally inside this Manhattan hotel meeting room, and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is happy for it. Better to have an 11th-hour Beckham than no Beckham at all.

Beckham has flown to New York, one of his favorite places in the world, to play for England in an exhibition today against Colombia at Giants Stadium, part of a doubleheader before the MetroStars face Chicago. He and Michael Owen escaped the greedy clutches of Real Madrid for a few days, arriving Sunday, practicing Monday morning on a sloppy new grass pitch alongside the young understudies who currently pass as England’s national team.

“I’ve got used to it,” Beckham says about all the attention he garners. “Sometimes you enjoy it, sometimes you don’t. When it involves my children, I don’t enjoy it. When I’m here with teammates, it’s OK.”

America has its hooks in the guy, who has come to grasp the commercial opportunities and embrace the energy of the place. Cynics will tell you that it is Victoria, his wife, who understands the market best and drives her man. Either way, they are a handsome pair built for mining money.

Beckham teases the local press with vague hints about finishing his career with the MLS, perhaps an unlikely merger with the MetroStars. He is being recognized more here when he walks the streets. Everyone knows his name, everyone knows he bends the ball.

Beckham can’t stop talking about a soccer academy for kids he has set up in Los Angeles, about finding the next Mia Hamm or Freddy Adu. But there is no denying his emotional connection with the East Coast, with New York.

He vacations here. Posh Spice first discovered she was pregnant with Beckham’s son in the city, and the couple decided to call their boy Brooklyn.

“It was a name we liked,” he says, and they certainly chose better with that outer borough than with the Bronx, Queens or Staten Island.

There are soccer matters that must be discussed with the midfielder, for he is rarely around these parts to answer them. Reporters want to know:

On his future:

“There’s been a lot of talk about me coming back to England, from the day I signed with Real Madrid. I’m happy with Real Madrid. I want to finish my career there.”

On how he bends that ball from outside the box:

“All I think about is scoring with the ball, hitting the target. It’s a skill I practice day in and out. When I do get it, I enjoy it a good deal.”

The late-afternoon match against Colombia should draw more than 50,000 in East Rutherford, N.J., and many of those fans will be there to ogle the star.

Ogle if you must, Beckham says. When you’re done, just send your kids to his academy in Los Angeles.