And I’m about to make my first trip to Home Depot Center for the first time this year, but frankly it scarcely feels as if I’ve been away given the length of the shortest-ever off-season.

Just in the past four days or so we’ve seen David Beckham pledge his future to the Galaxy and MLS for the next two years, defender A.J. DeLaGarza make his U.S. national team debut in the 1-0 win over Venezuela and Robbie Keane making headlines in England with a two-goal outburst for Aston Villla.

And now the run-up to the MLS 2012 season begins.

Some of you have already asked questions I will seek answers for at what will largely be an inside training session today given the soggy and gloomy weather here in the South Bay.

Any others can be asked either in the comments section here, via Titter @LAsoccerblog or at the 100 Percent Soccer Facebook page.

Armed with a new iPad, I’ll attempt to Tweet, post photos and tape interviews (depending on the HDC wifi in the bowels of the stadium and my level of skill with this new contraption).

And I’ll have more in Tuesday’s column.

University of Redlands Coach Ralph Perez, a former Galaxy assistant coach, is a class act.

He (gently) coached me when I participated in a Galaxy fantasy camp for a column.

He is often an analyst on Galaxy radio broadcasts with Joe Tutino.

And he has assumed numerous coaching roles – arguably at more levels than anyone else – over decades of service to the sport.

Now he will receive the 2012 Walt Chyzowych Memorial Fund Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America Foundation-Walt Chyzowych Awards Ceremony Jan. 14 at the 2012 NSCAA Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

I’ve known Perez for a long time now dating back to his tenure with the Galaxy as an assistant coach.

He’s one of the good guys of American soccer: Selfless, dedicated and an ambassador for the sport.

Sister paper the Redlands Daily Facts has more.

*Post updated

That’s the word from the Galaxy’s Facebook page, which posted in the wake of U.S. Soccer’s brief announcement that Omar Gonzalez had received permission to leave camp in Arizona.

“The Galaxy defender is currently out of the country having conversations about a potential off-season loan opportunity,” the Galaxy statement said. “We should have more information in the next day or two.”

Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza remains with the U.S. team, which opened camp earlier this week switches to Home Depot Center for a week from Jan. 13-20, then heads back to Arizona for the Jan. 21st game against Venezuela before the team heads to Panama for a Jan. 25 encounter with that nation.

Dallas’ George John has also left camp,apparently for the same reason, while U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann has added Seattle Sounders midfielder Brad Evans and defender Jeff Parke to the camp roster.

Update

Well, we now know where Gonzalez has headed on loan. And look who his central defensive partner will be at the club – and is that a precursor for the country, too?

What was that about the U.S. Men’s National Team becoming too German?

Update

Here’s more on the Galaxy defenders’ German team, courtesy of the Galaxy:

FC Nrnberg are currently in 15th place with 18 points at the halfway point of the German Bundesliga season with a 5-9-3 record. Currently on their winter break, Nrnberg will hold a training camp next week in Turkey before returning to Bundesliga action on Saturday, January 21 when they host Hertha Berlin. That will be the first of four league games that Nrnberg has scheduled during Gonzalez’s loan, which will conclude following the club’s trip to face FC Augsburg on Sunday, February 12. In between those two games, Gonzalez is also scheduled to face Hannover 96 on the road on January 27 and host the reigning Bundesliga champions, Borussia Dortmund, on February 3.

Update II

I thought you were joking, Studs, about Omar’s injury. Apparently not!

Bouncing Brazilian: The Galaxy will have two holes to fill in midfield next season if the dual reports of both David Beckham and Juninho, seen here playing in Indonesia in one of his last times in a LA jersey, moving on are accurate. Which begs the question, which is the bigger loss? (AP Photo).

And this time both reports seem to have a degree of finality to them and a distinct lack of rumors (*see update at bottom of post).

Here’s the David Beckham piece from the Associated Press:

PARIS (AP) — David Beckham is set to sign an 18-month deal with French club Paris Saint-Germain, according to the local news media.

After months of negotiations, Beckham will sign his contract with PSG in the beginning of
January according to French daily L’Equipe.

The 36-year-old former England captain would earn 800,000 euros ($1.05 million) per month, French daily Le Parisien claimed.

If agreed, the deal would end Beckham’s time in Major League Soccer, having led the
Galaxy to the title in the season just past. He still has ambitions of playing for Britain in
the Olympics in London next year.

Backed by wealthy Qatari investors, PSG has spent more than 85 million euros ($111 million) this summer to sign nine players.

*Juninho, according to Brazilian reports, has agreed a three-year contract extension with Sao Paulo, who had loaned him to the Galaxy.

Here’s the Google translation from Globo Esporte’s original piece in Portuguese:

At just 22 years, the steering wheel worked two seasons in the United States, and in 2011, was one of the main parts of the team of David Beckham to win the Major League Soccer, the main soccer tournament in the country. He served as a starter 33 times and scored four goals.

This is not the first time the board of St. Paul lends a young athlete to gain experience at another club and then reuses the main cast. With Hernanes, now in Lazio-ITA, the policy adopted was the same.

Despite the new opportunity, Juninho will not have it easy in 2012. Currently, the Sao Paulo against with Carlinhos Paraiba, Denilson, Jean Casimir, Wellington and Caio Rodrigo in the position of the wheel. Not to mention the former Cruzeiro Fabricio, who hit with the club in 2012.

*Finally, former Galaxy midfielder Andreas Herzog has joined Jurgen Klinsmann’s national team training staff.

*Update

Can’t we get this over with already?

By the way, I thought this was a good piece by Soccer America that puts in context exactly why PSG is prepared to give Beckham so much money. Hint: it ain’t for playing soccer.

*They know that after Morelia beat Alajuelense Tuesday. Here are the standings in the group. Their opponents Thursday haven’t won a game in the competition.

*The Chivas USA reserves won today. Woo hoo!

*The U.S. Futsal National Team, which includes four players who play at Torrance’s South Coast Soccer City, was “pulverized by Iran” after earlier losing 7-0 to Uruguay in a tourament in Brazil. Steady on Tehran Times!

*The U.S. Men’s National Team will face Slovenia Nov. 15.

Safe hands: Allstate had nothing on Kasey Keller when he was in the U.S. National Team goal (AP Photo).

One of the greatest performances of Kasey Keller’s outstanding goalkeeping career came before just 12,298 fans in February 1998 at the cavernous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

And I was there, as a fan, in the stands.

I remember being amazed that so few people showed up to watch Romario and the the rest of the Brazilian team as I walked around the virtually empty stadium.

Even more amazing though was Keller’s game-winning performance.

Preki may have come on a as a sub to score one of his trademark screaming winners from outside the box, but he wouldn’t have had that opportunity without Keller making almost a dozen saves including three efforts from Romario that left the Brazilian shaking his head.

If I recall the Brazilian called it the greatest goalkeeping performances he had ever seen in person and I too felt privileged to witness it – and agree.

Now Seattle will pay tribute to Keller Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes in front of what should be on of the largest crowds to witness an MLS game ever (7:30 p.m. Fox Soccer).

Fortunately for us in Southern California we have perhaps two more chances to see Keller in person before he calls time on his career – when the Sounders play Chivas USA Oct. 22 at Home Depot Center in the Goats’ regular season finale and a possible playoff game against the Galaxy.

I don’t think Keller was given his due by European coaches and he should have had the opportunity to play for bigger clubs in bigger competitions.

For my money, the world-class Keller was the closest any American player came to challenging Landon Donovan for the title of best U.S. player ever and without him in the net the U.S. would never have pulled off some of the results it did under the likes of Bruce Arena and Steve Sampson.

Associated Press Sports Writer Tim Booth has more on Keller’s career and the game:

TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) — Kasey Keller’s ready to go, ready to spend weekends on the golf course or, on the occasional hot day in the Pacific Northwest, water skiing around Lake Washington.

Or even something more simple, like a Friday night dinner out with family and friends without the worry of a game the next day.

Those hours of sitting around and making sure his mind is singularly focused on the 90 minutes in which Keller must be the best player on the pitch have been wearing after two decades of being in the argument about the greatest American goalkeeper of all time.

So it comes without hesitation that Keller is reaffirming this is it, that when the Seattle
Sounders FC season ends sometime in November — whether it’s following another early Seattle playoff exit or after an MLS Cup title — so too does his storied career.

The buildup to the conclusion begins on Saturday night when Seattle plays its final regular season home game against San Jose and Keller gets feted by a crowd that’ll likely top 60,000, most there to honor Keller’s lengthy career.

“I’m not too worried about the emotional side of stuff. I think that’s one of the things
that’s been cool about this year is I’ve known this the whole time,” Keller said. “You always think you have a long way to go and now it’s getting close, but if I felt I wanted to keep playing I would have kept playing. … I look around and see how many guys are playing at a level at soon-to-be 42. Not many, if any, so you can’t keep pushing it. You know at some stage you’re going to fall off that cliff.”

It’s a testament to Keller’s performance in his final year that questions are still being
asked about whether he’s at all reconsidering a retirement that was first announced nearly a year ago. He leads the MLS in victories with 16, is fourth in saves and, among keepers with at least 20 games this season, is tops in save percentage and second in goals against average.

No matter what happens in Seattle’s final two league matches, it’s the most successful regular season in the Sounders’ three years.

And that’s just what Keller’s done in MLS play. He helped Seattle win a third straight U.S.
Open Cup title by pitching shutouts in the semifinals and championship match, and pitched in with victories in the CONCACAF Champions League to help Seattle advance from group stage with one game remaining.

It’s all added up. Another 39 games total this season with a handful more to come, on top of a career that’s already spanned roughly 700 matches before this season began. The career clicker started nearly 20 years ago when Keller became the first American player to play in England on a U.S. passport after joining Millwall.

He was the first American keeper to start in the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and just the second American to captain a club in Germany’s Bundesliga, in a career that featured stops at Leicester City, Tottenham and Fulham in England; Rayo Vallecano in Spain; and Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany.

And all that time playing for some of the top clubs in Europe doesn’t delve into his 102 caps for the U.S national team and a trio of World Cups.

But exerting himself for one final year — and a third season overall — in Seattle was worth it for Keller. He got to witness the resurrection of the Cascadia rivalry with Portland and Vancouver at the highest level of soccer in North America and helped claim the Cascadia Cup with victories on the road in Vancouver and Portland.

He helped Seattle become the first club in more than 40 years to win three straight Open Cup titles.

And he’ll enter retirement still considered one of the top goalkeepers in America.

His longevity still stuns those he’s around.

“I was watching him (Wednesday) warming up and I said to one of the assistants, ‘Can you imagine doing that for 25 years?’” Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. “Falling over like that for 25 years and getting up again and doing it every day and saying, ‘This is fun.’ To me, that’s absolutely amazing and I think it’s been great what he’s done.”

Keller will be honored on Saturday night against San Jose before the largest crowd for an MLS game in Seattle’s brief history and possibly just the seventh regular season crowd in league history to top 60,000. The entire upper bowl of CenturyLink Field is being opened for Saturday’s match, and as of midweek more than 59,000 tickets had already been sold.

Asked if he’s even been honored by a throng that large, Keller chuckled.

“I’m very proud and humbled by the way the response has been from Day 1,” Keller said.

The Sounders are keeping the celebration muted until after Saturday’s match is complete. This won’t be his final appearance at home — the Sounders are guaranteed of at least one home playoff match — but this is the opportunity to honor Keller.

The massive crowd is partly due to a ticket promotion from earlier in the year that included games against New York and Seattle’s lone exhibition against Manchester United. But roughly 14,000 additional seats were sold beyond the ticket promotion specifically for Keller’s regular season home finale.

At whatever point of the playoffs Keller’s career ends, he won’t be removed from the game for long. He still mentions everything from commentary to coaching as potential future options. No matter the avenue, he’ll remain connected, even if he’s no longer in net.

“What I will miss is the feeling after a good result,” Keller said. “Because before, it’s all
a pain … during, it’s even worse as a goalkeeper. It’s when it’s over and you’ve helped your team be successful, that is the feeling that I’m going to miss. Everything else in between there, no.”

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati sees innovation first, not losses, for the national team so far under new Coach Jurgen Klinsmann, seen at right Tuesday night directing things from the bench in New Jersey. Associated Press Sports Writer Ronald Blum has the full story in the wake of last night’s loss to Ecuador:

HARRISON, New Jersey (AP) — Jurgen Klinsmann has been backed by his boss at the U.S. Soccer Federation as he focuses on long-term changes rather than short-term results.

“It’s a growing process,” USSF president Sunil Gulati said before Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss to Ecuador.

After the former German star and coach replaced Bob Bradley in late July, the Americans drew 1-1 with Mexico and lost to Costa Rica and Belgium 1-0 before last weekend’s 1-0 win over Honduras. When Bradley took over from Bruce Arena after the 2006 World Cup — when talks between Gulati and Klinsmann failed to reach an agreement — Bradley won 10 of his first 11 matches.

“He certainly felt more pressure about results than Jurgen feels,” Gulati said before the
match, clearly comfortable with stumbles in Klinsmann’s first few friendlies.

“Part of the attraction, obviously, is he’s an innovative guy and wants to try things, not
necessarily only things that have a 50-year track record of success, but some new things. So that always takes a little time for everyone — staff, coaching staff, players, leadership — and everyone’s adjusting.”

Ecuador won as second-half substitute Jaime Ayovi beat defender Tim Ream to a cross and scored in the 79th minute. Ream, a young but relatively inexperienced center back, received his first minutes with the national team since the 2-1 loss to Panama during the opening round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June.

The Americans have gone 23 games without scoring more than two goals, since beating Australia 3-1 in their last warmup before the 2010 World Cup.

“It’s a growing process and, obviously, also a couple of knocks that you have to accept,”
Klinsmann said.

He is trying new formations, new assistants and a new fitness staff. He’s also working with
Gulati, USSF chief executive officer Dan Flynn and youth technical director Claudio Reyna on planning for next year’s Olympics, where players are mostly limited to 23 and under.

Klinsmann estimates about one-third of his 2014 World Cup squad will come from the Olympic team. He expects forwards Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury; midfielder Danny Williams; defender Timmy Chandler; and goalkeeper Bill Hamid to make the London squad.

“Hopefully they get a great experience if everything goes OK with the qualifiers in March,”
Klinsmann said.

Gulati said the USSF might announce an Olympic coach within a month and left open the
possibility that Tab Ramos could move up. Ramos, a former national team standout, has been interim coach of the under-20 team since Thomas Rongen was fired in May. In turn, under-17 coach Wilmer Cabrera could move up to the U-20s.

“A big part of what Jurgen’s challenge will be is how do we influence all of those other
things, like Claudio is working on, so that four, six, eight years from now — player
development issues,” Gulati said. “He’s not going to invent new players under a short period of time.”

Still, Klinsmann has made a few changes to the U.S. lineup.

He gave Oguchi Onyewu his first start since June, and the 6-foot-4 central defender played a strong match. Following knee surgery in October 2009, Onyewu had struggled to regain his form until becoming a regular with Sporting Lisbon this season.

Williams made his second straight start since gaining an American passport last month and Chandler, a fellow German-American, has become the starter at left back. Fabian Johnson, who switched allegiance to the U.S. after starting for Germany in the 2009 European Under-21 final, is expected to make his debut after recovering from a neck injury.

When Landon Donovan (quadriceps) and Jose Torres (foot surgery) return from injuries, there will be heightened competition for midfield spots. And that doesn’t even include Stuart Holden, out until spring following his second knee surgery this year.

Already, Michael Bradley has been dropped to the bench in favor of Williams, Maurice Edu, Brek Shea and Kyle Beckerman. Jermaine Jones and Ricardo Clark weren’t invited to the latest camp.

“That fight, midfield, will really heat up,” Klinsmann said. “So we get some interesting
situations, and for me as a coach, very good options.”

The U.S. will play two games in Europe from Nov. 11-15. One is likely to be against France, which qualified for the European Championship on Tuesday and no longer needs the dates next month for a playoff. The other could be in Eastern Europe.

“Everyone still wants to see wins,” Gulati said. But for now, scores aren’t the priority.

“The first few results haven’t been great,” captain Carlos Bocanegra said. “It’s just
frustrating, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

*Staggering Seattle fell short of the MLS finish line Saturday, missing their three leading scorers, falling 2-0 to the Philadelphia Union and handing the Galaxy their second straight Supporters’ Shield.

The title capture was all but inevitable anyway for the Galaxy, who may have finished the season tired and depleted, but they outlasted the rest of MLS to make Sunday’s penultimate game of the season against Chivas USA in Carson a coronation rather than confirmation of the rightful MLS champions.

What do they get for their efforts? Home field advantage throughout the playoffs and an automatic berth in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League.

The 18-4-10 Galaxy are the third successive club to win back to back regular season titles and are now just four points shy of setting an MLS record for most points in a season.

*At a minimum the U.S. had to finally win its first game under Jugen Klinsmann Saturday against CONCACAF rival Honduras.

Done:

*Galaxy striker Robbie Keane is still struggling with the injury he had picked up before even going on international duty with Ireland.

*Here are all the results from around the world this weekend – and the upcoming games this week.

Do you think U.S. Captain Carlos Bocanegra has heard this German philosopher before? (AP Photo).

The friendly kicks off at 3 p.m. on Fox Soccer and Univision.

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds has the preview:

MIAMI (AP) – Jurgen Klinsmann made his mark in soccer by being one of the most prolific goal scorers the game has ever seen.

The U.S. could use his scoring knack right about now.

Since Klinsmann took over as coach of the U.S. national team this summer, the Americans have one goal in three matches – and no wins yet, either, settling for two losses
and a tie. They get a chance to change all of that in Miami on Saturday night against
Honduras, a team that reached the 2010 World Cup and may very well be an opponent for the U.S. on the way through qualifying for the 2014 tournament.

“The players at the end of the day, they make the calls,” Klinsmann said. “They decide on the field if they want to shoot it, if they want to dribble it, if they want to pass. They will
make the difference. And we want to just guide them to a situation where they take their own careers in their own hands and be comfortable about it and confident.”

Such is the process Klinsmann has talked about almost nonstop since taking over for Bob
Bradley and getting tasked with finding a way for the Americans to reach that proverbial next level.

He’ll have most of the best American options available to play in this two-game stretch of
friendlies, first in Miami, then on Tuesday at Harrison, N.J. against Ecuador. The one glaring exception to that is Landon Donovan, who will miss the matches with a strained right quadriceps.

Still, there will be plenty of veterans ready to go, including captain Carlos Bocanegra (who
enters the weekend four shy of 100 international appearances for his career), and even
one-time national-team regular DaMarcus Beasley – who hasn’t appeared for the national team since June 23, 2010 against Algeria, the World Cup match best remembered for
Donovan’s spectacular late-game winner off a rebound in front of the net.

“Looking to hopefully get my feet wet with the national team again,” Beasley said. “It’s been a while since I put on a jersey. Hopefully I get a chance this weekend.”

He’s earned his chance by reinventing himself, happily going to Mexico and competing for a team where almost no one speaks any English. Beasley isn’t exactly fluent in Spanish, though he’s trying to learn.

“It shows you his character, his willingness to fight through different environments and
through difficult moments,” Klinsmann said. “I think you see a far more mature DaMarcus
Beasley now than you probably saw a couple years ago, which is natural.”

Beasley’s presence in camp this week is one way to illustrate Klinsmann’s plan. In short, he’s looking at everyone and everything, older guys and younger upstarts, established players and ones with very few caps. Klinsmann is getting a first look at two-time World
Cup player Oguchi Onyewu this week, the highly touted Brek Shea is getting plenty of attention and German-born Danny Williams is getting a feel of how a U.S. national team camp works for the first time.

Out of that mix, eventually the core of a new team will emerge, the one he’ ll take into World Cup qualifying.

“It’s a group that kind of develops its own character over the next 2 years,” Klinsmann said. “It will be challenged in different ways, especially in the World Cup qualifiers. Every cycle of the national team, no matter what national team you’re talking about, is always going through this path of redefining its leaders, redefining it’s chemistry, and this is now the process we’re going through the next months.”

His players are going through a process as well – the one where they’re still trying to come
to grips with the fact that one of the game’s absolute giants is now their coach.

Klinsmann scored 47 goals for Germany in his career, and well over 200 goals for professional clubs like Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham. On the field in training sessions, even at 47 years old and wearing a baseball cap pulled low to shield his face
from the sun, Klinsmann still looks like he could play.

U.S. goalie Tim Howard acknowledged that it’s still a bit strange to see Klinsmann in charge.

“A little bit,” Howard said, nodding. “The one thing that we get that some don’t have is the
opportunity to realize how down-to-earth he is. For sure, we look at pictures of him winning
the World Cup, pictures of him on the sideline in 2006, all those crazy, crazy soccer moments that he was involved in, all these massive clubs. But once you get to speak to him, he’s just so cool, so regular.”

And with a win on Saturday, the Americans would get to see yet another side of Klinsmann – the celebratory one.

“It’s a group of players that has a tremendous working attitude and a willingness to learn and a willingness to improve,” Klinsmann said. “And so we’re step-by-step trying to build
something that really prepares us well.

Galaxy mifielder Juninho fends off the Columbus Crew’s Robbie Rogers; the Brazilian has become a fixture in the starting lineup this season combining flair with sheer hard work (AP Photo).

The Galaxy are fielding nominations from the media for the team MVP and defender of the Year awards that will be handed out at the final home game of the season.

And while there isn’t a category for it, if they were Juninho would get my vote as the most improved Galaxy player this season. Read more here.

Despite the absence tonight of some big name players,in the wake of Saturday’s win over Real Salt Lake the Galaxy can wrap up the regular season title against the Red Bulls tonight (5 o’clock ESPN2) who are struggling to make the playoffs.

Also, a familiar name for Galaxy fans is replacing Landon Donovan on the USMNT roster for its two upcoming friendlies.