Saturday night's match in Los Angeles (7 p.m. PT; ESPN, ESPN Deportes, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM and El Rey 1360AM) will see a familiar face on the opposing bench as the LA Galaxy named Sigi Schmid Head Coach Thursday morning, replacing Curt Onalfo effective immediately.
Schmid, the Sounders Head Coach for the club's first eight seasons, is the winningest coach in MLS history with 254 victories across MLS regular and postseason play.
“It’s big news,” current Sounders Head Coach and former Schmid assistant Brian Schmetzer said on Thursday. “We all felt Sigi was going to get a shot somewhere, and it’s the Galaxy where he started his MLS career.”
Schmetzer had been working under Schmid since the Sounders inaugural MLS season in 2009 when Seattle snatched Schmid from the Columbus Crew. The two are close friends, and Schmetzer texted Schmid Thursday morning to congratulate him on the position, but Schmetzer jumped right into competitive mode shortly thereafter.
“Sigi knows a lot about me, but then I know a lot about him and he knows a lot of my players and I know a lot about his style, so it'll be interesting,” Schmetzer said. “He’s going to be up for the challenge. I’m going to be up for the challenge...it just fans some of the flames.”
