CARSON, Calif. – There have been some unusual weeks in the history of the five-time MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy, but this one has been a doozy.
Head coach Curt Onalfo was dismissed on Thursday and replaced by former Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid. The change came just two days before the Galaxy’s next game against Schmid’s former club, the Seattle Sounders.
How bizarre is that?
“It’s difficult when the coach arrives in the middle of the week because we have a very important game Saturday and he doesn’t have much time to work with us,” said Romain Alessandrini, who leads the club with eight goals and eight assists. “We have to make sure we give everything we have this Saturday and then week after week get better.”
Added a grinning central defender Daniel Steres, “It’s crazy how it happened this way. I don’t know if it was planned this way or what. Who knows?
“As players, we’re just focused on the next game, and now we just have a new guy leading us.”
That “new guy” just happens to be the winningest coach in MLS history, with 254 career victories across the regular season and playoffs. The 64-year-old Schmid has captured two MLS Cups, two U.S. Open titles, three Supporters’ Shields and a CONCACAF Champions Cup. He was head coach of the Galaxy from 1999-2004, during which he went 79-53-32.
Now he has been tasked with resurrecting a struggling franchise that has a five-game losing streak and is just 6-10-4, including a league-worst 1-6-3 at home. The Galaxy, however, are only five points out of the playoff picture and eight points behind Seattle, which is tied with Portland for fourth place in the West.
“I was saying this last week,” commented defender Dave Romney, who is unavailable to play Saturday because of a sore left hamstring. “We’re only five points behind a playoff spot. Portland has 30 points and is two games ahead.
“Obviously our mentality has to be like this is crunch time.”
Central defender Jelle Van Damme said he was not surprised by the coaching switch.
“Do I think the change was needed?” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “I’ve been in this business a long enough to say I realize something has to change. It’s just the way it goes in soccer.
“You can be as a good coach as you can be, but if the results aren’t following they’re going to make changes. That’s just the way it is and we have to accept that. We have a new coach now. He’s a very experienced coach and we have to get our heads together and listen to him and become better as a team.”
Galaxy players have had exactly two practice sessions with their new leader, but Schmid’s impact already is being felt.
“He’s got his ways. He’s got a plan,” Steres said. “He came in right away, told us his plan and what he wanted to do, even just this week for this first game.
“Maybe that’s the spark we need. We’ll see. It’s on us to follow his lead. He’s excited and we just need to pick up points.”
