CARSON, Calif. — One of the world’s most recognizable athletes began his career in Major League Soccer by listening to a serenade based on the 1960s hit “Guantanamera.”

“One David Beckham! There’s only one David Beckham,” Los Angeles Galaxy fans sang during Beckham’s introduction to nearly 5,000 people on a warm July morning in 2007. As the ceremony continued, the fans began a chant: “One of us! One of us! One of us!”

Four years later, on the blog for the L.A. Riot Squad, the team’s largest supporters group, Cristobal Guillermo posted: “Not one of us! Not one of us! Not one of us!”

The emotional contrast is as stark as the difference between that morning and the raw, windy, stormy night that awaited Beckham, his teammates and the New England Revolution here Sunday night in the Galaxy’s home opener, which ended in a 1-1 tie.