FanHouse DaMarcus Beasley

Greeting Soccer Fanhouse. I don't know you, and you don't know me. If you can hear me past the echo, my name's Mike and I'm a Sagittarius. No wait, I'm your new soccer blogger for this here slice of the Inter-nets. For the last couple years I've been blogging about soccer -- the Premier League, the U.S. national team, MLS and Champions League mainly -- and now I'll bring that to FanHouse.

The timing is probably right, with the main European Leagues kicking off this past weekend.
Fittingly on a day where I kind of materialize out of the ether, young U.S. international Maurice Edu -- last year's MLS rookie of the year at Toronto FC -- gets inked to a surprising transfer to Scotland's Glasgow Rangers for £2.6 (roughly $5 million). This move seemed to come out of nowhere and could still be held up by U.K. work permits. Edu -- the 'FIFA 09' coverboy -- joins current U.S. international DaMarcus Beasley at the storied club, which will not play in the Champions League -- or any European competition this season.

This comes on the heels of Jozy Altidore's move from RBNY to Villareal a few months ago. If I were to guess FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper -- the current MLS goal scoring leader -- would be next. At least MLS recently added ex-U.S. defender Corey Gibbs and ex-Bolton youngster Johann Smith.

This should be the first of many noteworthy transfers this week before the European window closes at the end of the month. I'll stay on top of these, and whatever else seems pertinent to the soccer world as time goes by.

A rejuvenated Damarcus Beasley was a force at both ends of the field (when not flubbing a sitter) in the Gold Cup; in its aftermath his rumored move to Scottish power Rangers FC has been completed:

"We can confirm that [Beasley] has joined Rangers," the club's Carol Patton told YA. "A work permit should be just a formality and upon its approval he will be a Rangers player for the next three seasons."

A Rangers move is good and bad for US soccer fans. Beasley should be a regular for them, but the Scottish league is basically Rangers, Celtic, and then a bunch of teams that are probably no better than your average MLS side, so the high level competition so often cited as a necessary step for domestic players to become the international stars that lead the US to World Cup glory will be lacking. A mitigating factor: Rangers does have a virtual stranglehold on a Champions' League spot every year. Beasley remains the only American to play in a Champions League semifinal; hopefully he can add to his impressive record (four goals in 12 games) started at PSV.