State of the States | September, 2011

Summer is fading in the rearview mirror, leaving our humble review with three perspectives to consider: the US Men's National Team moving on from Gold Cup disappointment into the brave new Klinsmann era, MLS gearing up for playoff and Champions' League crunch time, and various Yanks abroad getting new leases in new locales.

The Klinsmann Effect

We begin with the national team. Klinsmann has had his first three games in charge, and while it's a touch early to be passing judgement and the draw against Mexico was a promising opening, there are some heavy questions lurking. Despite Klinsmann promising a bold new attacking approach, the US hasn't been flush with chances and has only managed one goal in three matches. Likewise, those who scoffed at Bradley's fielding of a creativity bereft Edu-Bradley-Jones central midfield should be making the same complaint about a Larentowicz-Beckerman-Edu combination, particularly when chasing a result. The more things change, the old saying goes...

Of course, Klinsmann has not had Dempsey and Donovan on the pitch at the same time, he's still missing Stuart Holden's set piece quality, and he's been doing a fair amount of experimenting with different pieces of the roster puzzle. While some (Castillo, Rogers) haven't impressed, Shea and Torres have looked promising. But that's really all that US fans can hold onto at the moment: promise. Klinsmann is rife with it, but can he deliver in the long term?

Crunch Time

By contrast, MLS sides have had a startling amount of success thus far in the CONCACAF Champions' League. Four MLS sides sit atop the four groups with a fifth, Toronto FC, an MLS whipping boy, sitting second only to fellow MLS side FC Dallas in Group C. Seattle and Dallas both managed unprecedented wins in Mexico, and the only loss thus far in the group stage has been Toronto losing to Dallas. Of course, the Mexican sides have been fielding under-strength sides, but that's never caused them too many problems before now.

On the domestic front, it's looking like the LA Galaxy will run away with the Supporters' Shield, though Seattle and FC Dallas are ready to pounce on any slips by the front-runners. RSL still has games in hand and might prove a fourth contender, but the rest of the league is effectively out of the running. You'll note, however, that all four of those league-leading sides are from the Western Conference, which means, even despite the format changes, we'll still wind up with one loaded half of the MLS Cup playoff bracket and one ripe for the picking. Theoretically, we could wind up with a Wild Card team from the West advancing to an Eastern Conference bracket containing three teams that attained fewer regular season points than them.

New Faces in New Places

Though the transfer window promised much for Americans abroad, it slammed shut without as much movement as might have been expected. That said, as the European season gets rolling, there will be new faces to watch in new places. Though Roma were supposed to be stockpiling Americans given their recent takeover, it was Scotland's Rangers that actually pulled the trigger, landing US captain Carlos Bocanegra and pushing forward the acquisition of Alejandro Bedoya to join Maurice Edu in midfield.

More interesting to watch will be the exploits of a trio of players that could potentially form the spine of the US side, all of whom endured disappointing campaigns last season. Jozy Altidore is already finding the net for AZ Alkmaar after three years of bouncing around Europe on loan from Villareal, though his coach doesn't seem pleased with Klinsmann calling in a player he doesn't consider fully fit as yet. Elsewhere, Michael Bradley has moved from Germany to Chievo Verona in Italy's Serie A and injury-plagued Oguchi Onyewu has shuffled out of Italy and over to Sporting in Portugal in search of minutes and form.

Looking Ahead

And that brings us to the final stop on our journey this month, where we take a look around at what storylines the discerning US soccer fan will be keeping an eye on in the month to come.

• Does Klinsmann have a firmer grasp of the tools at his disposal? Who does he call in for the October friendlies and how does he set them out to play?

• Do the Galaxy consolidate their hold on the Supporters' Shield or are we in for actual title tilt in October? Who looks like the form side heading into the post-season?

• How do those national-teamers lacking form (and, in the case of Bradley and Onyewu, lacking call-ups) perform for clubs old and new? Most interesting to me: can Donovan get his mojo back and transfer it to the international stage?

And that about wraps things up for State of the States this month. Thanks for reading, and tune in next month for another installment of my review of what's going on at the highest levels of men's soccer in the States.

Michael S. Hund is the creator of the Fullback Files, a blog covering DC United, the US National Team, and Major League Soccer.