CARSON, Calif. (Monday, August 27, 2012) – The LA Galaxy announced today that Ante Razov, a member of the inaugural 1996 Galaxy squad and the fourth leading goal scorer in MLS history, has been hired by the club’s Academy to serve as the head coach of their U-14 team. Razov replaces Craig Harrington, who served as the head coach of the Galaxy U-14’s in their first season of play in the Southern California Development Soccer League last year.
A native of Whittier, Calif. and a four-year star at UCLA, Razov was originally drafted by the Galaxy in the third round of the 1996 MLS College Draft. He spent two seasons with the Galaxy, scoring once in six games before going on to spend time with four other MLS teams in addition to a stint in Spain with Racing de Ferrol. In his 14 seasons in MLS, Razov won three U.S. Open Cup titles and MLS Cup 1998 with the Chicago Fire while also spending time with the Columbus Crew, MetroStars and Chivas USA before retiring in 2009. He finished his career with 114 goals in 262 regular season games.
The addition of Razov to the coaching staff was made today by Galaxy Vice President Chris Klein, who also announced the rest of the Academy coaching staff for the new season, which begins next month.
Current UCLA Assistant Coach Eddie Soto, who guided the Galaxy U-18’s to their first ever SoCal Division championship last season in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy returns as does Craig Harrington, who guided the club’s U-16’s to a conference championship and berth in the Development Academy playoffs after replacing Kenny Arena midway through last season. Soto will once again be assisted by former FC Dallas defender Alexi Yi, who will also serve as the head coach of the club’s U-15 side, while Harrington will be assisted by Ian Sarachan, the son of Galaxy Associate Head Coach Dave Sarachan, who will also assist Razov with the U-14’s.
Former MLS players Braeden Cloutier and Ted Eck are back to serve as the head coaches of the Galaxy U-13 and U-12 teams respectively with former Galaxy legend Mauricio Cienfuegos serving as the Technical Director for those two teams.
Rounding out the Galaxy Academy staff is Ruben Messina, who is back to coach the program’s goalkeepers, as well as Billy Bizzaro and Gordon Kljestan, who each served as coaches last season, but will now serve as administrators. Kljestan, who last year was an assistant on the U-16 team, is now leading the club’s youth soccer initiatives as Camps and Clinics Administrator while Bizzaro, who coached the club’s U-13 team, will now oversee the club’s day-to-day administrative duties as Academy Coordinator.
“We are very fortunate and excited to have assembled this staff,” said Klein. “The goal of the Academy is to develop players that can contribute to our first team and we feel that we can achieve that given the amount MLS and national team experience on our coaching staff.”
The complete Galaxy Academy staff, which is overseen by club Vice President Chris Klein, can be found below:
U-18 Head Coach: Eddie Soto
U-16 Head Coach: Craig Harrington
U-15 Head Coach and U-18 Assistant Coach: Alexi Yi
U-15 Assistant Coach: Andrew Boyens
U-14 Head Coach: Ante Razov
U-16 and U-14 Assistant Coach: Ian Sarachan
U-13 Head Coach: Braeden Cloutier
U-12 Head Coach: Ted Eck
U-12 and U-13 Technical Director: Mauricio Cienfuegos
Academy Goalkeeper Coach: Ruben Messina
Academy Coordinator: Billy Bizzaro
Camps and Clinics Coordinator: Gordon Kljestan
Academy Head Athletic Trainer: Pablo Chung
Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach: Jonathan Brooks
