- Jason Davis

Robbie Keane landed in LA yesterday. The Irish forward was greeted by a small collection of Galaxy supporters sporting scarves and (I imagine) chanting his name. I'm in danger of making this blog a little too Keane-heavy, but as I do see his signing as a seminal moment in the history of a league with the reputation of Scrooge McDuck when it comes to transfer fees, it's a hard development to ignore.

The "Welcome Robbie" contingent reportedly surprised Keane, who was no doubt expecting the anonymity footballers typically enjoy in the States (though, with his wife on his arm, it's not like he could go unnoticed). Rather than point to that fact and turn it into yet another "the game is growing" pillar, let me instead focus on the tenor of the crowd.

- Jason Davis

An American club went to Mexico and won a game last night. We should be doing back flips, right? Throwing ragers, cracking the seal on our best bottles of special edition liqueur, inviting the breakers of "The Streak" (FC Dallas, in case you hadn't heard) to our homes to eat our food and sleep with our wives. Finally, finally, FINALLY, the nightmare is over. MLS CAN win in Mexico, and now we have the proof. Everyone breathe.

Of course, because of the circumstances, what should be a day of rampant and debaucherous celebration is instead a ho hum Thursday with a couple of half-hearted attempts to fire up the fan base. It's really not much of a story, even though FCD's win was the first of its kind in MLS history. Hyndman and company slayed the dragon. Marvin Chavez is an American soccer hero.

- Jason  Davis

So Eddie's not coming, and the story is now less about whether or not he'd work for - or be wanted by - an MLS team, and more about the PR mess the premature announcement of his signing has become. Trust the league, that Eddie had all but signed on the dotted line and chose the eleventh hour to back out, or believe Eddie and agent Richard Motzkin that there wasn't a firm deal and someone in New York jumped the gun?

It's funny that the signing of a middling American striker with fewer goals to his name in the last two and a half years than clubs has caused such a furor. It's summer in MLS, the playoffs are looming, and everyone is desperate enough to see even Eddie Johnson as a potential solution. MLS has changed, but MLS hasn't changed at all.

- Jason Davis

There was a conference call I wasn't on this afternoon. I hear that MLS ExViceP Todd Durbin talked about developments on the player acquisition front. Some of it was of the "Hey! Look at what we did!" variety. Some of it was to announce a change in the Designated Player rule that will allow clubs to identify and sign younger players above the usual salary limits. A tiny bit of it was to reveal that the league has signed Eddie Johnson and that GAM will be allocated by the usual means at some point in the next two days.

Whatever the breakout of time spent talking about each topic actually was, it's the new twist on the DP rule that is obviously the talking point. Owners are naturally adverse to risk, which younger players that require DP designations (usually due to transfer fees hitting the cap) are. Who knows how many times coaches have returned from trips to Central and South America giddy over a young player their club could have had for a reasonable fee, only to be told the cap hit would be too large or the club is holding on to DP slots for "accomplished" names. Maybe not that often, but it certainly happens.

- Jason Davis

So here we go again. Two MLS teams start their CONCAChampions campaigns tonight. After the thrilling, but ultimately disappointing, story of Real Salt Lake to start the year, the tournament that has remained such an MLS bugaboo is back to twist our gonads.

MLS has five teams in the group stages, a new high. Presumably that means a better chance that one or two of those teams can make strong runs deep into the tournament, though some of that will be down to luck. A couple of these clubs have fairly daunting task ahead of them just to make the knockout rounds. Real Salt Lake was a special team through the 2010-2011 tournament. It remains to be seen if any of the MLS clubs in this edition are worthy of that label.

- Jason Davis

Well hello, Robbie Keane. Come on in. Apparently someone is willing to stuff your pockets full of cash on the chance you'll score a bunch of goals and they'll finally have a championship in LA to go with all that spending.

I'd call LA desperate, but since there's no chance AEG is running out of money anytime soon, I'm not sure the label applies. The Galaxy went all-in on 2011 before the season even started. Since Angel was a massive flop, signing Keane is just about the only way they could have increased the pot. It's not a little bit of money. And they had to pay a transfer fee as well.

- Jason Davis

Sick of my voice yet? Wait, don't answer that.

Jared and I, in our usual time slot, have a new American Soccer Show for your listening enjoyment.

We hit on our impressions of Klinsmann's debut, address a few of the more notable performances from Wednesday, talking about the good vibes that everyone is buzzing on, and consider the next steps in the next round of friendlies.

We move to the news of Major League Soccer's new TV contact in segment two. I have a chat with Ben Berger of footiebusiness.com before Jared and I flesh out some announcer candidates. We move on to a couple of emails - including the frustrating suggestion that Brek Shea HAS to play in Europe to become a great National Teamer - then chat about all the news swirling around Philly like Freddy Adu's debut and Juan Pablo Angel's potential move.

We close the show talking about Beverly Hills 90210 (guess who brings it up), Chuck Blazer and other things.

Thanks, as always, for listening. Make sure you like and comment at the Facebook page and hit us up on Twitter via the AmSoc account.

Rating and comments in iTunes are always greatly, greatly appreciated.

Visit the show website for other links of interest.

-Ben McCormick

Say what you will about the positives Juergen Klinsmann has brought to the USMNT, there are still some things he can't change, like the US player pool...or can he? Although he may not be able to magically produce eleven world class American players, he is in a unique position to cure one of the US's most painful ailments: left back.

Enter Fabian Johnson, the 23 year old German-American left back at Bundesliga club Hoffenheim. Only a couple short years ago, Johnson was playing for the German U-21 team at the UEFA Championship, having just completed another solid season at 1860 Munich, starting 33 matches, scoring two goals and notching seven assists in the process. He then made the big jump to then Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg where his promising career hit a sizable speed bump.

In his first season at Wolfsburg, he played in ten matches, starting only six. The following season, he played in just seven matches, with Wolfsburg's lack of European competition putting the squeeze on his playing time.

At the beginning of this summer, he transferred from Wolfsburg to Hoffenheim for €600k, where general manager Ernst Tanner expects big things, calling Fabian a "very talented and very versatile full-back."  And Johnson is already fulfilling those expectations.

- Jason Davis

A little bonus American Soccer Show action for you. After getting together with Jared to chat with Brian Straus of The Sporting News, we decided it was a good idea to put out a bonus episode rather than hold on to it over the weekend.

In here is a lot of great stuff from Brian on Klinsmann's debut, the new feeling around the team , Freddy to Philly, and more. After finishing up with Brian, Jared and I stick around to chat a bit about the news that Robbie Keane could be headed to LA.

Thanks, as always, for listening. Make sure you like and comment at the Facebook page and hit us up on Twitter via the AmSoc account.

Rating and comments in iTunes are always greatly, greatly appreciated.

Visit the show website for other links of interest.

- Evan Rosenthal

The demonstrative enthusiasm Jurgen Klinsmann brings to US Soccer was palpable last night from my seat in the second row behind the United States bench at Lincoln Financial Field. For those who felt that Bob Bradley was robotic and displayed little emotion and joy for the game, the first match of the Klinsmann era at least showed that there will be some smiles and fun in the US camp. Seeing the new coach standing prominently on the sideline in support of the players, rallying the team to put higher pressure on the Mexican defense, celebrating the goal, and greeting the substitutes with affection like a proud father, I was heartened by the new direction of the US Men’s National Team, and hopefully the entire program.

Editor's Note: This is the second post by US Paralympic Team pool player Jasper Wilson on the American attempt to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic games in London. For a primer on the team and the rules for what is also called CP Soccer, see Jasper's introductory post here.


- Jasper Wilson

The U.S. Paralympic Soccer team's qualification for the 2012 Paralympic Games is akin to a World Cup qualification for the other national teams of US Soccer. The team is quite young (it was the youngest squad at the Copa America and one of if not the youngest at Worlds) making their accomplishment of qualifying for the Paralympic Games that much more impressive.

- Jason Davis

I'm struck today - after my maudlin ramble last night that was mostly down to putting fingers to keyboard at halftime and then changing course mid-stream - by the thing on which so many people are focused after the Americans managed to salvage a draw against Mexico last night in Philadelphia. It's not any perceived change in philosophy, or the play of any individual player, but the attitude of the new head coach. Jurgen, he's ebullient, and people are smitten.