CARSON, Calif. – Contests between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA are always heated even at the academy level, but the claims of a Chivas youth coach last week added extra fuel to the fire.
Prior to the Galaxy’s clean sweep of Chivas’ U-14, U-16 and U-18 sides, Rojiblancos U-14 head coach Brian Kleiban told the club’s official website that he turned down the same gig with LA to replace the departed Greg Vanney who left to lead the Toronto FC Academy. Kleiban’s side suffered the widest margin of defeat as LA’s U-14’s defeated Chivas 4-0 on Saturday.
Following the match, I spoke to Galaxy Academy Director Peter Vagenas about the results at each age level and the “collaborative” effort ongoing between himself and coaches Mike Munoz and Ante Razov to lead the team in a piece on LAGalaxy.com. Vagenas later elaborated on the search for what he describes as one of the Academy’s most vital posts.
“I assure you that I’ve done my due diligence and I’ve spoken to many different people about the possibilities of working with the team. That being said, there’s been a long list of candidates and it’s not something that I take lightly,” Vagenas told LA Galaxy Insider. “I can make an argument that it is as important of an Academy position as there is. In that sense, I’m going through and continuing to make sure that we find the right person.
“I will continue to do so, but I have not yet found the right person,” added Vagenas. “We have unique and high standards for all our coaches in the academy and rather than force a square peg into a round hole, I’d rather exhaust all my options and make sure that we get the right individual to lead our young men.”
