Gullit and Lalas gone from the Galaxy

Monday, 11 August 08, 06:55 PM · Comments(1)

In one fell swoop, the Los Angeles Galaxy have lost both their head coach and general on the same day. Former Dutch international Ruud Gullit stepped down as the Los Angeles boss while Alexi Lalas is out as the GM.

There are various reasons to explain their departures. First of all, the Southern California squad is winless in their last seven games. Second, they failed to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup. The Galaxy have had a disappointing season thus far, posting a record of 6-8-5 in a season in which they were expected to seriously contend for the MLS title.

In the meantime one of the team's historic figures takes over for Gullit. It's none other than Cobi Jones, who is not too far removed from the sport. He'll be taking over on an interim basis. According to a team spokesman that I contacted, there will be no formal press conference for Jones. However, Jones will be present at tomorrow's press conference as the league promotes yet another edition of the Superclásico.

But Jones' stint as the interim manager could end up being brief. A source close to the team informed me that another legendary Galaxy player could end of the "permanent" head coach. That is former El Salvador international Mauricio Cienfuegos. I heard that if Cienfuegos were to take the helm of the team, Jones would move upstairs to become the club's new general manager.

I'm not sure if Cienfuegos is the right man to take over as the head coach since the team that he's managing in his native country (Nejapa) at the moment is dragging through the mud.

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