The history of MLS is etched in stone on the resumes of Sigi Schmid and Bruce Arena.
The two MLS coaching monoliths were there for the tenuous days of the first MLS Cup, the spasmodic contraction of the league around the turn of the century, the subsequent growth, the David Beckham era, the modern rules alterations, the influx of foreign players and, putting it mildly, the shaping of the professional game on these shores.
Schmid and Arena are practically walking American soccer museums. And so LA Galaxy-Seattle Sounders matches these days are as much about the clash between two coaching titans as it is about the players themselves.
The Galaxy visit CenturyLink Field at noon on Saturday for a vital Western Conference clash that most likely means more for the struggling Sounders. Seattle is currently tied for last place in the conference, and with the summer hitting full stride the Sounders need points to begin climbing back toward playoff solvency before the hole gets any deeper.
Players tend to take center stage in these matters, and there is good reason. The coach is more or less a baker, preparing the ingredients beforehand and setting the oven before stepping back to watch it cook.
From a practical standpoint Saturday’s match might follow those lines, but it’s the only matchup in MLS where the coaches are generally a larger presence than the players.
To wit, 24 current or past MLS coaches owe their careers in some fashion to Arena, whose coaching tree stretches and twists and vines into the mist overhead. Right now, six head MLS coaches are branches on Arena’s tree: Jesse Marsch, Ben Olsen, Gregg Berhalter, Greg Vanney, Pablo Mastroeni and Wade Barrett. Schmid’s tree is smaller, but 15 head coaches or assistants either played or coached under the Sounders skipper at one point.
Indeed, with the lone exception of 2005, when Arena headed up the U.S. men’s national team and Schmid guided the U.S. U20 team, either Schmid or Arena has coached in MLS every season since the league’s foundation in 1996. Arena even has a tie to the region. In 1975, Arena briefly moved to Tacoma to play for the Tides in the American Soccer League. The move first introduced Arena to coaching, and he got his first taste of the profession that would become his life coaching the University of Puget Sound that year.
Between them, since the league’s foundation, Arena and Schmid have five MLS Coach of the Year honors, six Supporters’ Shields and a whopping seven MLS Cups. They’ve also coached some of the finest players to ever filter through the league, including two of the best American players in history in Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey.
And then there’s this; no MLS coach has ever won more MLS Cups than Arena, and no MLS coach has ever won more games than Schmid.
Historically, Arena and Schmid are both of the American old school of adaptability largely through the 4-4-2 formation. The U.S. made the 4-4-2 something of a bedrock formation through its renaissance period of the 1990’s, and when Arena took over the U.S. national team in 1998, he made it a habit that lasted through Bob Bradley’s ensuing five-year tenure. This season has marked the first major consistent departure from the 4-4-2 for Schmid, who’s lined up his side in a nominal 4-3-3 to start every match this season.
Still, Arena and Schmid are far more tactically alike than they are different. Both value a single stern, veteran voice guiding the side both on and off the field. For the Galaxy, that’s been Robbie Keane, and the Sounders obviously have had Brad Evans as an emotional talisman since their inaugural MLS season. Both are tactically adaptable while being largely committed to playing into the strengths that got them this far.
And both are no nonsense leaders who aren’t afraid to delegate and inspire confidence by their vast wealth of experience.
While Arena’s side looks as strong as any in MLS, Schmid is currently facing one of the most challenging periods of his tenure in Seattle. The Sounders have never missed the playoffs under Schmid, a run of seven consecutive seasons, and they’ve never been this low in the standings at this point in a season under his command. What’s more, if reinforcements do arrive in the recently opened transfer window, it’s anyone’s guess when they’ll be up to MLS playing speed.
In that sense, this particular Arena-Schmid clash has a bit more edge to it than most. While Arena seeks to pull together his many disparate pieces that suddenly look all too comfortable together, Schmid is leveraging the full weight of his coaching experience in an attempt to pull the Sounders back into a straight line toward the postseason.
Whatever happens, don’t miss the significance of a sideline shared by the two most luminous giants in the league’s history.
