With Sigi Schmid away for his son Kurt's wedding, assistant coach Brian Schmetzer will lead Seattle Sounders FC into Saturday's match against the Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo. Schmid departs for northern California Thursday night, leaving Schmetzer to manage Saturday's match.
Since the coaching staff has already agreed on a starting lineup, Schmetzer will be responsible for running Friday's practice and making in-game strategic decisions, including substitutions, against Houston. With regards to the latter, Schmid believes Schmetzer will do well if he trusts his ability to read the game.
"Even if you're watching the game on TV you don't see someone's body language off the ball, you don't see what's going on away from the ball, you can't detect the attitude of the stadium, the attitude of a player, and all that," Schmid said. "So at the end of the day, (Schmetzer's) got to trust his instinct -- he's been a head coach before; he's made those decisions before -- and make decisions that he thinks are right on the day.
"What you're really doing in those 90 minutes is figuring out what you'll say to your team at halftime, where are the little adjustments you got to make, what are the substitutions you got to make, when do you make them," Schmid said. "The only way you can make them is by being at the game."
While acknowledging that there is more pressure sitting in the big chair, Schmetzer noted that he's coached against MLS teams before as head coach of the USL Sounders, a post he held for seven seasons. During that tenure, Schmetzer coached his team to championships in 2005 and 2007; those banners currently hang from the Qwest Field rafters.
He also said he's known about Schmid's absence for quite a while, although the information had not been shared publicly by the club until now.
Although rare, Schmid has previously missed games for similar reasons. Last season, Schmid missed one of the Columbus Crew's games to attend the wedding of his daughter Lacey. Family events usually take precedence over soccer for Schmid and his players -- he also let Jhon Kennedy Hurtado leave the team in New York to be present at the birth of his first child.
Kurt Schmid's wedding isn't the only stop on Schmid's itinerary. On Sunday, he'll be flying to Washington, D.C. to tour the White House and meet President Barack Obama Monday with his former team, the 2008 MLS champion Crew. As the coach of that team, Schmid was invited by the Columbus organization and will likely be joined by Brad Evans, who Schmid believes will be released from Gold Cup duty just long enough to join his former team in the White House.
Assistant coach Ezra Hendrickson, who came to Seattle with Schmid after last season with Columbus, will also be in attendance.
Top on the list of questions to ask Obama? Schmid joked that he's been asked by assistant coach Tom Dutra to track down his stimulus checks.
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
