Vagenas, Schmid face familiar foe in LA
Sounders FC midfielder, coach have strong connection to Galaxy
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Speaking about the memories he has for the Galaxy, Vagenas talked Tuesday about the emotions of returning to the place he calls home.
"I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but as we get closer and closer it's starting to become a bigger deal," said Vagenas, who missed Seattle's match against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center in April through injury. "After the last game, (I had) 37 text messages from old Galaxy guys about this upcoming game, so that kind of set the week in motion for me. I'm excited, first and foremost."
Vagenas said this is the second time he's wanted the Galaxy to lose, with the only other time being the teams' first meeting this season.
When Vagenas comes back to the Home Depot Center, Sigi Schmid, who coached the Galaxy from 1999-2004, reminded him to walk through the correct set of doors.
"It's always a little different feeling for you when you go back and play or coach against a team that you either played or coached for before," Schmid said. "For Pete it is going to be a little different of an experience. Hopefully he will walk into the right locker room, not walk into the wrong room there. But I told him he has to drive himself to the game."
Vagenas isn't the only one returning to his former team. Although he downplays it, Schmid still bears a hard feelings over the way he left the Galaxy.
Last year, Schmid told the Los Angeles Times that he expected to have tenure with the Galaxy, like Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Instead, Schmid was let go in the middle of the 2004 season, despite the fact that Los Angeles led the league in goals and were in first place in the Western Conference. The reason management cited was that Schmid's team played a brand of soccer not exciting enough.
When Schmid left, Vagenas remained. He served as captain of the team that ended up winning the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in 2005, largely with a team built by Schmid. That year, Schmid took a year off from Major League Soccer, coaching the U.S. under-20 national team at the FIFA Youth World Championship in Holland.
Four years later, the pair has been reunited. After missing the early portion of the season with injury, Schmid has begun to rely on Vagenas to hold down central midfield. With regular central midfielder Brad Evans filling in at right back against Real Salt Lake, Vagenas started alongside Osvaldo Alonso and went the full 90 minutes.
The veteran midfielder has played in four of the last five contests as he builds his conditioning for the playoff run. However, he conceded that this is not a normal week for him.
In addition to the friends and family he maintains in Los Angeles, Vagenas spoke about playing as a visitor on what used to be his home turf.
"Whether we play them in a park or in The Home Depot Center, it's going to be weird," Vagenas said.
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
