CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid has his game plan in place for his first match of the post-Jelle Van Damme era and it is likely to involve a pair of team mainstays.
With Van Damme returning to Belgium last week, the Galaxy’s head coach must decide who will fill the spot vacated by the 2016 MLS Defender of the Year nominee, starting with this Wednesday’s match against Columbus Crew SC. Ahead of the Columbus match, Schmid expects to rely upon the tandem of Dave Romney and Daniel Steres who started together during the team’s recent 2-0 defeat to New York City FC.
Although Schmid admitted that he had hoped to have Van Damme for Columbus, he is prepared to give the young tandem another shot.
“Romney and Steres are the guys there right now. They’ll step up and do the job,” Schmid said. “The last game, they played very pretty well. I don’t think there were major issues, I thought we did a pretty job, they did well and they were sharp and they have to communicate well because that’s an extremely important part of their career.”
Steres, who has vast experience playing with Romney dating back to their days with LA Galaxy II, relishes the opportunity to line up alongside his longtime teammate.’
“Our relationship is good. We’ve been playing for the last three years together. We know each other well and now that he’ll be able to step into that role, for the time being, It’s time to work on the relationship and we need to start getting zeros.”
