Sigi's gone

Sigi Schmid is gone. In a move that surprises few people, Schmid will no longer coach the Columbus Crew.

Schmid, who is easily one of the best coaches in Major League Soccer history, is likely to take over the expansion Seattle Sounders, which would be nothing short of a coup for the first-year club.

Schmid won MLS Cup titles with the Galaxy in 2002 and this year with Columbus and also has US Open Cup and CONCACAF Cup titles to his name.

We saw how successful a two-time MLS Cup-winning coach was this year with San Jose and Frank Yallop - the club was horrid early but improved vastly over the course of the season. Thus, I'd expect Seattle to be competitive next year; maybe not from the start but Seattle will be heard from at some point in 2009.