I work in a room with dozens of Britons, and their interest in Major League Soccer extends about one team deep:

The LA Galaxy.

For two reasons:

—David Beckham, England and Manchester United midfielder and captain and in part famous for being famous, who was owned by the Galaxy from 2007-12.

—Steven Gerrard, England and Liverpool midfielder and captain and mostly famous for being Steven Gerrard, a sort of metronome of quality and dependability, whose Galaxy career began last week and yielded his first MLS goal today.

Gerrard scored a goal and assisted on another as the Galaxy overcame a 2-0 deficit against the San Jose Earthquakes to win 5-2.

This will be known very quickly among England soccer fans, and especially Liverpool fans.

We at The National posted an extended story on Gerrard’s first league goal. Liverpool fans must have choked on their Frosties when they saw the celebration photo (after the goal) with Saint Steven wearing his No. 8 Galaxy jersey with “Herbal Life” on the front.

Beckham, Gerrard and Frank Lampard, who has joined New York City FC but has yet to play because of a calf injury, are the most prominent Englishmen to sign with an MLS team and two of them, obviously, played for the Galaxy. And your typical English fan (which is your typical Englishman) knows that.

My impression is that the English perception of MLS as a quality league has risen since 2007, when Beckham joined the Galaxy.

To casual American soccer fans, Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard seem like varieties of the same player. They even had remarkably similar runs with England’s national team — Beckham with 115 appearances, Gerrard with 114, Lampard with 106. Lampard, though, scored the most goals for England, 29, with Gerrard at 21 and Beckham 17.

Beckham is the most famous, something he worked at assiduously. He understood his “brand” well enough to know it needed broadening, from his first club, United. He went to Real Madrid where he was part of a “galacticos” team for four seasons, then to the Galaxy, then did a loan with AC Milan and, after he was part of a second Galaxy championship team, he did half a season with Paris Saint Germain. He has the celebrity wife, etc., and was able to “bend” shots like himself.

Gerrard played only for Liverpool, in England, and considers himself a Scouser. That makes him an object of veneration among the many Liverpool fans, who also associate him with the 2004 Uefa Champions League victory in Istanbul. He joins the Galaxy at age 35, compared to Beckham, who was 32 when he landed in Los Angeles.

Lampard, the most offense-oriented of the trio, is also the oldest to make the move to MLS, at age 37.

He will have to get busy with New York City FC if he wants to change English perceptions about American soccer and the Big Apple.

The Galaxy has become No. 1 on the England, and the English remain fascinated with the idea of the New York Cosmos, of the old NASL, and even the reincarnated New York Cosmos, which plays in what is the U.S. second division.

NYCFC will need to win something, or Lampard will have to play really well, to allow the new MLS side to catch up on the old Cosmos side, let alone on the Galaxy.