The COVID-19 pandemic has surely kept at least a few Major League Soccer managers in their jobs for a few extra months. But as the MLS is Back Tournament continues, so does the march toward the inevitable first coaching casualty of 2020. And after the LA Galaxy’s 6-2 shellacking by an LAFC side without Carlos Vela, Guillermo Barros Schelotto may be the leader in the clubhouse for that honor.
It’s not that the Galaxy lost, but how they lost, wasting an excellent first-half before collapsing in the second. And it’s not just how they collapsed, but also Schelotto’s lack of reaction to it, using only one of his five substitutes amid oppressive Central Florida conditions before his team found itself trailing by three goals.
And it’s not only the nature of those decisions, but it’s the greater context of a team that has earned exactly one point in its first four matches despite having the league’s highest paid player in Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and one of the Western Hemisphere’s most talented young prospects in Cristian Pavon.
Yes, a calf injury kept Chicharito out for the second of three group matches and will continue to do so for the next 3-4 weeks, according to Schelotto. But although Chicharito finally scored his first MLS goal in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Portland, the Galaxy on that night looked little better going forward than the disjointed unit that lost to Vancouver before the coronavirus halted the season in March. And apparently, the cost of a more cohesive attack Saturday was the club’s worst defensive effort since a loss by the same score to Real Salt Lake on Sept. 1 of 2018.
In fairness to Schelotto, many of these problems — particularly the failure to field at least a league-average defense — have flummoxed the Galaxy for longer than his tenure. Over the previous three seasons, the club conceded 190 goals total, good for a pace of 1.76 per game. And for all of the club’s spending on high-end attacking talent that also brings enormous commercial appeal — see Chicharito, Zlatan Ibrahimovic — the club has consistently swung and missed on defensive signings. Those realities present questions not for Schelotto but Galaxy president Chris Klein and general manager Dennis te Klose.
ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman appeared to hint at this point toward to the end of Saturday’s match broadcast.
“It’s now in the third or fourth year when you’re asking the question of, ‘Are the Galaxy good enough to make the playoffs?’” Twellman said. “This is a franchise, as I well know, that wins MLS Cups. That’s how they term success. So for Schelotto there is real pressure on him. Absolutely. Make no mistake about it. Now is there enough pressure where you ask the question, you know, is his back against the wall during a global pandemic after a four-month break? I don’t think so.”
But even Schelotto’s own postgame evaluation of his side’s capitulation could even be taken as an indictment on his abilities, with his assertion that his team “gave up the battle and the fight” against a derby rival.
Schelotto still has a track record of managerial success in Argentina at Lanus and Boca Juniors, where he won a Copa Sudamericana and two Argentine Superliga titles, combined with four years of MLS playing experience at Columbus Crew SC. That’s a CV that may make him uniquely equipped to cope with the pressure he may find himself in. For all the stresses of managing the most decorated club in MLS, they are nothing compared to standing in the home coaches’ box in La Bombonera. And for all the challenges of integrating a star like Chicharito into a more modest supporting cast, Schelotto has already proven himself plenty skilled at that with Carlos Tevez at Boca and even Ibrahimovic with LA.
The LA Galaxy returned to the postseason in Schelotto’s first season in charge in 2019 after a two-year absence that was the second-longest in club history. That should buy him some good will and benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, a third sub-par performance in the group finale against the Houston Dynamo will leave those above him with a few more weeks to stew on poor performances, without a concrete date for the resumption of the 2020 season. It’s the kind of thing that could lead to a change.
I write about MLS, American soccer and occasionally Baltimore sports for Forbes.com. Also a contributor for MLSsoccer.com, the Associated Press, MLB.com and elsewhere.
I write about MLS, American soccer and occasionally Baltimore sports for Forbes.com. Also a contributor for MLSsoccer.com, the Associated Press, MLB.com and elsewhere. The best single piece of professional advice I ever received came from a high school football coach when I was 22: “Be better, or be different.” Aspiring to cover the 2021 World Baseball Classic and 2022 World Cup in person.