Sigi Schmid can certainly identify with New York City FC head coach Jason Kreis and his staff.
Like Kreis, the current Seattle Sounders head coach knows a thing or two about building a club.
He took the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy to the first of their league-leading five MLS Cup titles in 2002 and lifted the trophy again three seasons later. From there, Schmid went to Columbus and helped guide the Crew to their first MLS Cup and second Supporters’ Shield in 2008. He headed back west to lead the expansion Sounders to the U.S. Open Cup title in their debut 2009 campaign.
“Everybody tries to do the same thing – you want to be successful in your first year,” Schmid told reporters after training this week. “There a lot of likenesses like going after a couple of good DPs. We brought in (Fredy) Montero, they brought in (David) Villa. You try to get guys in on discovery; they got Mix Diskerud, we got Kasey Keller. You also try to do well in the draft. They have some people who are still around from their expansion draft – the (Chris) Wingerts, the (Ned) Grabavoys. Jason got some guys he’s familiar with which is sort of what we did with (Brad) Evans and (Peter) Vagenas. They were guys I was familiar with, so that made it a little easier for me.
“But then it all depends how it works out. You need some confidence, you need some wins then you go from there.”
The Sounders visit New York City FC on Sunday evening. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT. The match will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 and can be heard on 970 AM and WQBU 92.7.
