By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor
When he met with Galaxy general manager Doug Hamilton the morning of Aug. 23, two days after his team tied Columbus, 0-0, Sigi Schmid planned to lay out the changes he had in mind.
Press reports had ripped the teamÆs performance and a rather bland run of games in which Los Angeles had scored nine goals, conceded 12 and won only three of 10.
Instead, Hamilton told him of the change he had in mind: A new coach. Schmid was fired and Steve Sampson was hired the following day.
ôAll I can say is that deal got done real quickly,ö said Schmid, whose team was in first place in the Western Conference at 9-6-7. ôWhat I was given was, æWe donÆt know if the team is headed in the right direction right now, so we want to move in a different direction.Æ
ôIÆm not quite sure what that means. When youÆre in first place, thereÆs only one direction.ö
Schmid says he planned to move midfielder Sasha Victorine to left back to give the team more options at building play from the back line, and was also going to re-jigger the midfield to let Andreas Herzog play wide on the left.
The changes were somewhat contingent on defender Danny Califf and midfielder Pete Vagenas completing their comebacks from injury.
ôI thought with Sasha on one side and Chris Albright on the other weÆd be successful playing out of the back and that would also open up a space alongside [Marcelo] Saragosa for either Ned Grabavoy on a full-time basis or Peter Vagenas, and those three would battle for those two positions.
ôThere was some talk between Doug and me certainly and he was aware of things like moving Sasha back there. At the time when I was let go, that to me on the day came out of the blue.ö
Schmid had been on borrowed time following last seasonÆs miserable 9-12-9 campaign and playoff collapse after taking a 4-0 lead on aggregate against San Jose. He says he appreciates the opportunity Hamilton gave him to come back.
ôHe stuck by me last year and allowed me to return and IÆm thankful he was supportive,'' said Schmid. ''By being able to return this year I was able to prove that last year was not normal.ö
SchmidÆs all-time regular season mark with the Galaxy was 70-41-23 and he won the league title in 2002. HeÆd been in charge for 5-and-a-half years, a long tenure for any pro coach, but disputes speculation that the players had lost interest in him and his coaching.
ôIÆve thought about it and pondered it and it makes less and less sense,ö he says. ôThe painÆs gone and I donÆt feel as melancholy and IÆm not as emotional as it was, but from the standpoint of logic I felt proud of everything I did with the team this year and that includes the game against Columbus.ö