Sigi Schmid

It would be easy for Sigi Schmid to gloat these days. No one would blame him for walking around with a self-satisfied smile, or even with the swagger that comes from having proved critics irrefutably wrong. But that's not who Schmid is, and the former UCLA and Galaxy coach is simply enjoying the moment. On Sunday, Schmid's Columbus Crew will play the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer's championship game at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Sigi Schmid is back in town, and so is Alexi Lalas. For the Galaxy's veteran players, that should make tonight interesting at the Home Depot Center. They'll be playing against their former coach for the first time while simultaneously trying to impress their former teammate in his first game as their new boss. Sound complicated? It isn't.

Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, who came close to being fired at the end of the 2003 Major League Soccer season, said Sunday that he is not a candidate for the vacant UCLA position. Schmid, who won three NCAA titles in 19 years as the Bruins' coach, said he would prefer to rebuild the Galaxy rather than return to Westwood. Former Columbus Crew coach Tom Fitzgerald resigned as UCLA's coach Friday to return to the University of Tampa.

Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid has long maintained that he enjoys matching wits with Bob Bradley, the coach of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. The two kept up a good rivalry during the five years that Bradley coached the Chicago Fire, and it continued last season when Bradley took charge of the MetroStars. If anything, it intensified. In 2003, the Galaxy, then the reigning Major League Soccer champion, failed to defeat Bradley's MetroStars in three attempts.

First place, as dubious as it was, was not enough to save him. Neither were the three trophies Sigi Schmid won with the Galaxy or the quick start his club got off to this season. Turns out Doug Hamilton, the Galaxy president and general manager, did not like the direction in which he sensed the Galaxy was headed. On Monday, over lunch and with eight games left in the regular season, he fired Schmid.

Sigi Schmid, who was unexpectedly fired as coach of the Galaxy on Aug. 16 after almost six predominantly successful seasons in Major League Soccer, Friday was named coach of the United States under-20 national team. It will be Schmid's second tour with the under-20s. He coached the team in 1998-99, taking it to the second round of the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria.

The Galaxy on Friday rewarded Coach Sigi Schmid for bringing the Major League Soccer title to Los Angeles last season, giving him a multiyear contract that will keep him in charge of the team for at least the next two seasons and probably longer. Schmid, who became the Galaxy's coach in April 1999, has led it to victory in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2000, the U.S. Open Cup in 2001 and the MLS Cup in 2002. He has a 76-41-19 overall record in MLS.

The losses the Galaxy has suffered on the field this season have paled in comparison to the beatings Coach Sigi Schmid has taken on Internet message boards. Irate fans are calling for Schmid's job in the wake of the team's worst season. But with two matches remaining in the regular season and at least a two-game playoff after that -- all against rival San Jose -- Galaxy General Manager Doug Hamilton is defending Schmid, although he stopped short of issuing a vote of confidence for his coach.

Sigi Schmid's job as coach of the Galaxy hung in the balance Friday, despite the new contract he was given in March after leading the team to its first Major League Soccer championship last season. Schmid, 50, met with his players Thursday and told them he was unsure whether he would be retained as coach in the wake of the Galaxy's first-round elimination in this season's playoffs.

That heavy sigh of relief that emanated from Carson on Wednesday was not from a turkey given an 11th-hour reprieve on the day before Thanksgiving. Rather, it was coming from embattled Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, whose own goose seemed to be cooked after his defending Major League Soccer champion's underachieving season ended with a playoff collapse. Embattled no more -- unless you count the vicious Internet fan attacks on message boards -- Schmid will remain the team's coach for the 2004 season.