Ante Razov spent the 2015 and ’16 Major League Soccer season as an assistant coach for the Seattle Sounders, helping lead the club to last year’s MLS Cup title. This past offseason, Razov returned home to southern California to join the LA Galaxy in the same role.
SoundersFC.com caught up with Razov ahead of Sunday’s match between his current and former clubs. [NOTE: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
SOUNDERSFC.COM: What has the transition to the Galaxy been like?
RAZOV: It’s been a pretty smooth one for me personally in terms of integrating with the staff, it was not too dissimilar to moving to Seattle. I did have some relationships with the people down here. It was a familiar scene, it’s where I’m from so in terms of the role outside of soccer that was an easy one. It’s been quite simple, we just keep working day-to-day now.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: What are some of the biggest differences between the Sounders and the Galaxy?
RAZOV: From a football standpoint, not too much. Teams are similar in a lot of ways. It’s a new team in some ways, so the biggest adjustment we’ve had is getting a new group of players to play with each other. Preseason is quite short and sometimes players are missing for different reasons and some players arrive late, and so just getting that chemistry and that connection with everyone has been the biggest challenge. We see small steps in that.
SOUNDERSFC.COM:What are some of the best things you learned in your two years in Seattle?
RAZOV: The way the two years went, it felt like five years of experience just because of the overall big picture in terms of a coaching change and whatnot and then ending up winning everything. I really enjoyed the big players: Clint [Dempsey], Oba[femi Martins], big personalities, [Nicolas] Lodeiro. I enjoy working with all the guys, but I see it as a challenge working with the top players because usually a big personality comes with that and I enjoy that challenge. I think understanding managing personalities, helping the club come to terms with a little bit of a different way of playing toward the end of last year and ultimately the success, all those things were a fantastic experience.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: Is there anything you learned with the Sounders that you’ve taken with you to the Galaxy?
RAZOV: My intuition on players. As a relatively new coach in first-team clubs, I was actually quite happy with my initial thoughts and objective analysis of players, and my ideas on the way of playing and the way I would personally like to play. I was able to help interject with Brian [Schmetzer]. Those two things I take away, and I am very confident in my abilities now to assess the game and assess players in moments where it’s needed.
