Keane Galaxy Saturday Gameday: San Jose Earthquakes at Galaxy Preview*
Galaxy guy: Robbie Keane joins the Galaxy (AP Photo).
*Post updated
The sports editor here - a Mr. Bailey - is not a man easily impressed by MLS or AEG.
But he conceded Friday his Irish blood was rushing through the veins just a little quicker now in anticipation of Robbie Keane's debut tonight at Home Depot Center in Carson for the Galaxy against their regional rivals, the San Jose Earthquakes.
Keane is not an over the hill, slowing striker. At 31, he's still in his prime. And while Tottenham boss Harry Rednapp apparently rates David Beckham higher than Keane these days, the feeling is not shared by most Galaxy fans and reporters I know.
Not to get too giddy here, but this could be a transformational moment for what is already statistically the best team in MLS. And it just got, way better.
You overwhelmingly agree, too.
It's hard not to believe that a Galaxy team that had been missing something in the final third of the field, as Bruce Arena said at Friday's news conference, had potentially - finally - found the missing article.
For those critics - like me - who have wanted to see more flair, more verve, a more attacking joie de vivre, shall we say, this move couldn't be better.
Juan Pablo Angel was the consummate all-business, low-key forward. Keane exudes personality and yes, a certain raw edge Angel lacked.
Everyone hit the right notes at Friday's press conference to introduce Keane.
The only thing missing was the WAG coverage. Oh, wait that's covered.
*Here's how Friday's events played back in Ireland.
*Staff Writer Phil Collin has more on Keane and the game preview.
*Here's the San Jose perspective from our sister paper the San Jose Mercury News.
*Almost unnoticed, the game is also a homecoming for a former Loyola Marymount player and Lawndale resident.
*Earlier this year it was 0-0 in San Jose between the two sides with unlikely goalkeeper Mike Magee getting the shutout. Watch the highlights here.
I plan to live blog the game tonight.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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