#ThankYouKeano: New Era for LA After Robbie Keane
- Updated: November 19, 2016
Throughout my LA Galaxy fandom, I have witnessed numerous players and staff members depart from the club. Yet, in my opinion, none of these players have influenced the team more than Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, and most recently, Robbie Keane.
As Shawn wrote yesterday in his article “Robbie Keane Leaves LA Galaxy,” the Galaxy’s favorite Irishman and longtime captain announced his departure in an open letter to his fans.
Both times my wife and I went to Frisco, Texas, to watch the LA Galaxy play FC Dallas (April 2013 and October 2014), Bruce Arena decided not to play Keane. Sadly, I never watched him play in person.
For any Galaxy fan, his departure hurts, but I am eager to see what awaits him for the rest of his career and life outside of soccer. I could easily see him returning some day to the Galaxy in a coaching position.
The team, and fans, owes much of the Galaxy’s recent success to him. Keane dominated on the field through his leadership, wisdom, and tremendous goal-scoring ability.
Where do we go from here?
Now fans and the coaching staff, which is still up in the air as rumors circulate about a possible Bruce Arena departure and Dave Sarachan’s departure earlier this week, face a new era in Galaxy history.
Well, the Galaxy already have Giovanni dos Santos. With Keane hampered by injuries this season, fans saw sparks of the future from dos Santos. He played better with Keane absent from the field. In between Mexican National Team appearances, dos Santos should contribute much more in the upcoming seasons.
Yet, we must not rely upon him as we have in the past with Donovan and Keane. Dos Santos is a fantastic player, but the final 2016 games displayed issues. LA must improve its midfield. Too many times communication from front to back lacked. Jelle Van Damme proved quite helpful with this problem.
Transitions always create problems, but even more so due to over-reliance. I look forward to the 2017 LA Galaxy season, and I hope the transition will be much smoother than from 2014 to 2015 after Landon Donovan’s retirement.
I will definitely miss his trademark goal celebration:
Also his “dramatic celebration,” which still haunts me to this day:
Goodbye, Robbie Keane. You will be surely missed on the field.
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