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SBI MLS Player of the Month: Robbie Keane

Keane (Getty Images)

When Robbie Keane returned to MLS from Ireland's failed run at Euro 2012, there was no emotional letdown or fatigue factor whatsoever. Instead, the Irish captain has turned in his most prolific stretch of play since coming to MLS last summer.

On the heels of a couple of strong games to close out June, Keane scored five goals and assisted on four others in a standout month of July to help lead the resurgent Los Angeles Galaxy to a 4-1-1 record and win SBI MLS Player of the Month honors. A lot of Keane's success can be attributed to the play of Landon Donovan and David Beckham, who combined to help set him up on multiple occasions, but with Donovan and Beckham out for Los Angeles' match against FC Dallas, Keane stepped up and facilitated the attack on his own, setting up Mike Magee for the game-winning goal.

Keane, who played 90 minutes in each of the Galaxy's six matches, tallied braces in road wins at Portland and Chicago and starred in the Galaxy's win over rival Chivas USA with a goal and an assist to pad his July portfolio.

Keane edged out the likes of Beckham (three goals, four assists in just three games), Donovan (three goals, three assists), Real Salt Lake's Alvaro Saborio (six goals, one assist), and Houston's Brad Davis (one goal, six assists, leading club to 4-0-2 record) to win the monthly honors.

What did you think of Keane's month? Which MLS player do you think was the top dog in July?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. One of those players who has always had more haters than deserved. Fantastic career and still going pretty strong. Good job, Robbie.

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  2. Sure why not he can suck in MLS just as easily as he would have sucked in Belgium, just like he sucked in the German second division.

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  3. On the basis of his play? Absolutely deserved. World-class.
    On the basis of his behavior toward his teammates? Absolutely not.
    I actually thought the question at the end of the post was, “What do you think of Keane’s mouth?”
    I know it’s within the bounds of accepted behavior in soccer to yell at your teammates, but Robbie does it way too much.
    Please look at the video of the goal scored by Mike Magee against Dallas last Saturday: Keane, who had been yelling and gesticulating at his strike partner Magee all game long, set him up with a world-class pass. And then, when Magee scores rather than passing back to the moving Keane, Robbie doesn’t even celebrate the goal with as much as raised arms… just jogs back toward his end of the field. If he wasn’t the one to get the glory, then he didn’t care about the goal. Really poor.
    You have to wonder if some (I know there have been many factors, Gonzales and Saunders etc.) of the Galaxy’s problems this year relate to tension due to this sort of attitude.

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  4. You’re wrong. He played the San Jose Earthquakes on June 30 not July 2nd.
    Also, the next sweep will be the Seattle Sounders, the sweep of LA will not be completed until late October.

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  5. 1) No. And I don’t think he will until he retires from the game as a whole. Ireland doesn’t have much.

    2) 13 goals, 8 assists in 30 games all competitions. 12 goals, 8 assists in 25 in the league. He has 9 goals and 6 assists in 17 games this year.

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  6. Robbie is a blast to watch play.

    His runs and feel for positioning at the point of attack are a joy to root for and great coaching highlights to share with kids learning the game

    Go Robbie!

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