A Keane Start

The LA Galaxy rolled out the red carpet for Robbie Keane as the club spared no expense for Friday's presentation/press conference. Free food, free Guinness and lots of people to see him for the first time in the flesh.

He didn't exactly disappoint on Saturday, did he?

Keane scored a goal on his debut for the Galaxy and was rather calm about it afterward. He's scored lots of goals of course and probably doesn't get too overly enthused about them at this point. Still, he did his trademark cartwheel and somersault after his goal, which was certainly a treat for LA Galaxy fans to see not only in person but also right away.

Here's a story where teammates such as Landon Donovan and David Beckham react to Keane's first match.

Now, I guess I'm not surprised he scored right away. His track record certainly suggested that that was a possibility. And with all the hoopla surrounding his arrival, perhaps he was a bit more focused than normal.

There is part of me that thinks such a goal under the circumstances he scored it in is not the greatest endorsement for the league. He had one training session and hadn't played a game in nine days, yet he comes straight into the team and puts a goal away.

I don't know, maybe that has more to do with how piss-poor the Earthquakes are right now.

Regardless, Keane goals/cartwheels/somersaults aren't something that we'll see little of at Home Depot Center this year.

But will it put them over the top? I know the initial reaction among many is to say yes, that this guarantees the Galaxy the Supporters' Shield and gives them a good chance of reaching MLS Cup. Heck, the way Tim Leiweke trotted out Keane and how brash he was with his own remarks, I'm sure he certainly thinks Keane will guarantee the Galaxy a trip to MLS Cup at worst.

The Supporters' Shield is certainly within reach. The games are becoming scarce and Seattle is the only team with a realistic chance of catching the Galaxy at this point... RSL has a long shot in doing so... but otherwise it's the Sounders in hot pursuit and that's it.

Keane, he'll help. But the playoffs, we've seen, haven't exactly favored the stronger teams.

And if Leiweke wants to guarantee his team a chance at anything, perhaps he should figure out a way to make it so the Supporters' Shield winner isn't on equal footing with some mediocre team that barely squeeked into the playoffs on day of the pursuit towards MLS Cup.

But that's another topic for another day. For now, we wait to see how Keane's body will respond to his first game, whether Arena will use him on Thursday against Alajuelense and how much he'll play then and Sunday in New York. My guess is he'll play 45 minutes against Alajuelense (starting the match on the bench) and will start and play 60-75 at New York.

No reason to burn him out right away.