Galaxy Survivors from 2001 Cup
The Galaxy lineup that day included two other current coaches whose teams are alive in the 2019 edition of the U.S. Open Cup: Paul Caligiuri (Orange County FC) and Ezra ‘E.Z.’ Hendrickson, now an assistant with the Galaxy.
The ’01 final filled Titan Stadium with an attendance of 4,195. The crowd likely would have been greater had the Final been awarded to the Revolution, who’d planned to stage the match at Foxboro Stadium. But Anschutz hungered for a championship, regardless of the size of the crowd, and successfully lobbied for the Galaxy to host the Final instead. A year later, the Galaxy defeated the Revolution, again in extra time, for the MLS Cup before 61,316 at Gillette Stadium.
Schmid would go on to win another MLS Cup with the Columbus Crew and four more Open Cup titles with the Seattle Sounders (2009, ’10, ’11, ’14).
“Sigi was a motivating guy, he loved the game and worked very hard to make his teams competitive and hard to play against,” Elliott said. “When he was at UCLA and I was at Stanford we played each other and that’s how he knew me. He had a number of guys from UCLA, and guys like Mauricio Cienfuegos were already there, and he drafted some younger guys to complement them. He was starting his MLS career and he had vast experience, so he knew exactly what he was doing, so he let guys get after it in training and the team coalesced that way.”
Elliott played for the Columbus Crew’s 2004 Supporters Shield-winners under Greg Andrulis and moved to England and Fulham under Chris Coleman in 2006. Elliott’s stay with the Whites ended because of injury before he could compete in an FA Cup match.
EPL Experience
“It’s great, highly competitive, and it’s perform or you’re done,” Elliott said of the Premier League. “Pretty simple. It’s real clinical over there. It is intense, incredibly fast-paced and that’s why people watch it around the world. It was a valuable experience in a lot of ways. I probably learned more from the bad stuff – I tore my Achilles and it was a real grind.”
