Lalas will not fire Sampson, at least not any time soon. Remember that this is still Doug Hamilton's team and Doug Hamilton's front office, and Lalas needs to spend some time building up people's trust before trying to put his own stamp on the team. Hamilton's death is still an open sore for the entire organization - I would even go so far as to attribute the slow start on the field to shock of what happened - and any smart executive knows that his first job is to help people heal. That being said, I don't think that Sampson and Lalas will be compatible over the long haul. For the past year, the Galaxy have not played the kind of soccer that really puts butts in the seats. This is not Europe, where silverware is the only thing that matters to the home team - you need to need to showcase aggressive, interesting soccer during a long season if you want to fill the HDC. The stupid thing about the MLS is that, as opposed to Europe, most games really don't matter. The difference between finishing second and fourth means little, and it is more important to arrive in the playoffs healthy than it does in first at the top of the table. To draw fans during that season, you need to give them solid entertainment on the pitch. Sampson is not that kind of coach. He still has not figured out where to play LD, the Galaxy never string passes together in the attacking half of the field, and Sampson never seems to get a high work rate or aggressiveness out of his players. Without LD and possibly Chris Albright for much of the summer, I shudder to think who will create the chances. If Sampson continues to guide the Galaxy to a low-scoring, .500 record, I would think that next year we could see Frank Yallop (who both Lalas and LD worked with at San Jose) or possibly Jurgen Klinsman take over. But that will happen later, not sooner. In the meantime, Lalas should, and probably will, spend most of his time on non-soccer operations. That being said ... Alexi - please do something about the food at HDC. You can get better tacos and burritos at most elementary school cafeterias!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Lalas will just deal with the soccer-side of operations, not the business-side
Actually he is already setting the table to axe a double winner, much like Hamilton axed a coach whose team was in first place. SS will have his hands full trying to get results during the WC run, and I can see him not making it out of there with his job. Their june scheduele has them playing Houston twice (tough games and they may still be full strength), once against Chivas (may only be missing one player, tough game providing they don't capitulate at the end of the game), once against NYRB (just like the Metros of old they can be dominant at times or downright horrendous, so this is a hit or miss one), and once against DC (no missing players for WC). So looking at that you are playing 5 tough games there without Donovan, Glen, and Albright (otherwise known as the only real contributers in your first 3 weeks). So right there it is conceivable that you could only pull out 1 to 4 points or even lose all 5 games. It is going to be tough for SS to keep this team in a respectable posistion during they WC run, and that may be enough to give Lalas just reason to give him the sack.