MLS’s Batman and Joker: Vanney and Schmetzer Rivalry Continues In Leagues Cup
Vanney vs. Schmetzer, Batman vs. Joker. MLS's best coaching rivalry continues to add another chapter of lore
Death. Taxes. A high-stakes matchup between Greg Vanney and Brian Schmetzer.
Both men have cemented their legacies in the past decade in Major League Soccer, but not without getting in each other’s path. Leagues Cup becomes the next avenue where both coaches face each other in a high-stakes match.
Wednesday’s Leagues Cup Semifinal matchup will be the seventh knockout match between the two coaches. Each has won three matches against the other in these elimination games.
Like Batman and Joker, Vanney and Schmetzer seem destined to collide whenever the stakes are highest. Since their first encounter in the 2016 MLS Cup Final, their paths have felt almost scripted, their legacies intertwined. One coach can rarely reach the mountaintop without testing himself against the other.
And while there’s plenty of respect between them, both know how much these battles sharpen their own careers.
“[Vanney] does a great job getting the best out of the players he has on his roster. And I think I do the same thing, or I try to do the same thing,” said Schmetzer during Tuesday’s presser. “From the outside of the game, I think it's just getting your team to play to the best of their ability. And I think Greg does the same,” he added.
This rivalry feels like an ongoing comic-book saga: Each man sharpens the other’s legacy, and no matter how many times they face off in knockout games, it never feels like the last time.
“A lot of it's just depending on our teams and our players, and what we feel like is going to be putting our players in the best scenarios to try to be successful on these days that really matter,” said Vanney on Tuesday.
“[Schmetzer] is not going to change his setup just for the sake of it. He's going to try to put his team in the best possible way to come win the game. So once the game gets going and you see what's happening, then I think there's the opportunity to maybe see what adaptations might be available or whatever.”
“The rivalry is a good one. [The Galaxy] had the better of us in the early years, but I think over the last couple of years, obviously not last year in the semifinal, we've had some success down there in LA, and we want to keep going there,” said Schmetzer.
Who’s Batman? Who’s Joker?
Now this is where the fun begins.
In analyzing the characters and both coaches, here is how I would cast them: Greg Vanney best represents Batman, and Brian Schmetzer is Joker.
Starting with Vanney, he’s improved the situation at the two clubs he’s been the head coach of. He brought stability, success, and relevance to Toronto FC during his tenure in the mid to late 2010s. Since he left, the Canadian club has become a mess despite its best efforts to bring in talent and regenerate the winning ways it had.
The Galaxy had been in a decade of mediocrity before Vanney arrived in 2021. LA slowly built better infrastructure and modernized under the direction of Vanney. That work bore its fruit in 2024 as the Galaxy won its sixth MLS Cup. His impact all across the club was key to the environment and culture changing for the better.
Like Batman fighting crime in Gotham, Vanney brought winning soccer and turned franchises in the mud into relevance. Despite this current season being a disaster in league play, Vanney led this Galaxy squad to the opportunity to win a trophy and play in the Concacaf Champions League next season.
Batman’s refusal to kill despite the circumstances somewhat mirrors Vanney’s commitment to his tactical ideas. His principles of tactical balance and adaptability within his possession-based system are embedded into how the Galaxy plays, no matter the situation. Both Batman and Vanney never stray from their foundational principles.
Schmetzer’s teams have made their legacies in knockout matches where chaos reigns supreme- the main element of the Joker.
The first meeting between the two coaches in the 2016 MLS Cup Final provided chaos. Vanney’s Toronto FC side lost the final despite Seattle not recording a single shot on goal. The Sounders won the penalty shootout and thus began the rivalry between the two coaches and the successful run of Seattle.
The Sounders always find a way to bring chaos and be one of the top teams in MLS despite not being the dominant team each week in the league. They turn up in knockout games and are constantly unpredictable.
The Sounders lost all four matches against LAFC in MLS, Leagues Cup, and the U.S. Open Cup prior to their match-up in the second round of the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs. Seattle ended up beating LAFC 2-1 in the playoff match despite the black and gold having their number all season long. The Sounders make it almost impossible for you to count them out.
Schmetzer’s biggest moments as coach of the Sounders are tied to Vanney’s Toronto teams (2016, 2017, 2019). Without Vanney, Schmetzer still has trophies, but with Vanney, he has defining rivalry victories that hold some extra weight when looking back at that era of the league.
Joker is chaos and destruction. Schmetzer’s Sounders brought headaches and crushed the dreams of Toronto being a dominant dynasty in MLS. Vanney is likely hoisting more trophies if he had never faced Schmetzer’s teams.
No matter how many times they face off, Vanney vs. Schmetzer never feels like the last chapter. Wednesday’s Leagues Cup semifinal will add another layer of story in this ongoing saga.