The disappointing LA Galaxy did not want to wait until the end of the season to begin their rebuild. Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto was fired Thursday with three games remaining in the regular season and the Galaxy in last place in the Western Conference.
General manager Dennis te Kloese said the biggest reason for the immediate change is that there were too many games where the team underperformed. The Galaxy have dropped nine of its 10 while being outscored 26-8. They have been shut out in four games and also dropped four games by three goals or more during that span, including Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at Portland.
Barros Schelotto was in his second season with the club and compiled a 21-26-6 record in Major League Soccer. LA is 5-11-3 this season with its next game being Sunday when it hosts Real Salt Lake.
“We’ve been up and down like a rollercoaster,” te Klose said. “There were too many games that don’t represent what our fans expect. The results haven’t been good or even close to being good.”
Dominic Kinnear will serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. The Galaxy also fired assistant coach Gustavo Barros Schelotto, assistant coach Ariel Pereyra, goalkeeping coach Juan José Romero and performance coach Javier Valdecantos.
Barros Schelotto was hired in January of 2019 after nearly three years at Boca Juniors, where he won two championships in Argentina’s top division. He also played a decade with Boca Juniors before spending four seasons with MLS’ Columbus Crew, In four seasons with the Crew from 2007-10 he scoring 38 goals and was named league MVP in 2008.
The Galaxy made the playoffs in 2019. snapping a two-year postseason drought, and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals before losing to rival Los Angeles FC. But charismatic superstar Zlatan Irbrahimovic decided to return to Europe, and the Galaxy were not able to fill that loss despite signing Javier “Chicharito” Hernández to join talented forwards Cristian Pavón and Jonathan dos Santos.
Hernández has only one goal in 10 games despite being the league’s highest-paid player. Hernández is signed to MLS through 2022. Te Klose has denied reports that Hernández might be loaned to Mexican League club Chivas de Guadalajara with an option to buy.
“We haven’t been able to connect him to his full potential. Now, obviously, with the challenges that we’ve we’ve gone through the entire year, it made it very challenging year, His personal challenges obviously didn’t help at all,” te Klose said.
Kinnear is MLS’ fourth-winningest coach with 169 victories and led Houston to two MLS Cup titles. He was the Galaxy’s interim coach in 2018 and compiled a 3-2-1 mark.