Seattle Sounders have officially unveiled Sigi Schmid as head coach. It will be his third Major League Soccer coaching position and he has won titles in his previous two stops -- Los Angeles and Columbus.
This time, however, he is overseeing an expansion team. Schmid said: "It's a great feeling to be here and to help start the Seattle franchise.
"It's like having a house, sometimes it's easier to tear it down and start from scratch rather than to add on to something you already have. I enjoy challenges. It was good to remind everybody that I could build a team (Columbus) and I feel confident we'll build a good team here."
Schmid revealed that if Columbus management had handled his contract earlier, he might have returned to the Crew.
"I just told them I want to look at what else is out there," he said. "I talked to other teams, including Seattle and the rest is what happened today. If the negotiations had gone though within a week, it was more than likely I would have signed with Columbus. But that wasn't the situation. We were still far apart and it took forever."
The Sounders FC has already signed goalkeeper Kasey Keller and midfielder Freddie Ljungberg along with forwards Nate Jaqua and Sanna Nyassi. Schmid said he is impressed with the early roster and will slowly mold the club into an exciting style.
"For us, we want to be competitive in every game that we step on the field with right from day one," Schmid said. "I'm not a big believer in saying 'oh, we only lost 1-0 today,' or something like that. We want to be competitive. We want to try and win games right at the beginning.
"We also have to be realistic. We have to understand that we are an expansion team. Our trainings are going to be intense. It's going to be very competitive, because I think that's important for a team. But we're also going to be able to laugh on the field. And they know when it's time to work, and we'll work hard, and when we're done with the work we're going to enjoy what we just did. That's an important part in building the team spirit."