Schwarz goes from fighting close friend Jurgen Klopp to brink of MLS miracle

On Saturday history will be made as East meets West and the New York Red Bulls travel to Los Angeles to face the Galaxy for the biggest prize in domestic American soccer.

The Galaxy, who already hold the lead for most MLS Cup victories with five, can go two clear of DC United in the all-time rankings if they manage to win their first title since 2014.

On that occasion, Robbie Keane was the hero providing an 111th minute winner, the dramatic conclusion rivaling their infamous 2009 defeat when Landon Donovan missed a crucial penalty as he and his team failed to help David Beckham win the big one.

Meanwhile, Red Bulls are aiming for something special of their own, having never won the MLS Cup in their 30 year history.

They failed to win it all with Thierry Henry and record goalscorer Bradley Wright-Phillips in their ranks, reaching the final in 2008 when they were soundly beaten by the Columbus Crew.

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Five seasons with Henry led to more than 50 MLS goals for the legendary Frenchman. Yet, that half-a-decade ended with zero titles.

Now, the team who will finally look to banish the demons of Henry's failed tenure is in the hands of a man with a decent resume of his own.

While Henry was battling it out for Premier League titles with Arsenal, Sandro Schwartz was making his relatively lesser known name in the German second division with Mainz.

Eight years prior to Schwarz's breakthrough to the Mainz first team in 1998, Jurgen Klopp made his debut for the club he would spend nearly the entirety of his playing career with.

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The pair enjoyed six years together, first as teammates and then with Klopp as Schwarz's manager, developing a close bond on and off the pitch.

Marked by their intensity and competitiveness it was no surprise that they ended up becoming managers following underwhelming playing careers.

However that bond also included a heated moment that nearly came to blows.

During a training session, Klopp and Schwarz came up against each other in a practice game that pitted the older players - Klopp included - against the youngsters - with Schwarz in that second group.

"Take care not to hurt yourself," Klopp explained was the message of the training match in 2018. "And Sandro Schwarz knocked me over three times from behind - on a hard-frozen artificial turf field.

"The third time I got up, then we stood nose to nose. "Are you stupid or what?" I said to him. He said: 'What do you want?'

"Then I moved my head forward so slightly. This is generally considered a headbutt, but it wasn't a blow, more like a push away. Two cocks, fools! And then he started bleeding. That was crazy! That must have had to do with the cold!

"I wanted to apologize right away. He just sent me away. I wanted to call at lunchtime and then Rosi - his mother - told me on the phone: 'He doesn't want to talk to you'. And I cooked nicely in my own juice. Two months later I was his coach!"

As Klopp explains, just months after the two managers nearly came to blows on Mainz's frozen training pitches, the Liverpool legend became first team head coach following his retirement.

And in his first ever managerial gig, Klopp relied on Schwarz.

"Sandro was my teammate for years," Klopp later told German publication Kicker.

"Then after I took charge of the club until we got promoted back to the Bundesliga, he was a really important player in my team. Sandro was always a fighter, a leader, someone who really lived for Mainz 05.

"He was always someone who took the initiative, who was a real leader. They're not the worst characteristics for someone who's going to be a coach!"

Under Klopp, Schwarz was a regular feature of a team that twice came just short of promotion before finally achieving ascension to the Bundesliga in the 2003/04 season.

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The relationship ended there with Schwarz moving on from Mainz ahead of the top flight season, but the two remain close friends and on January 1 will become colleagues once again when Klopp embarks on a new venture as Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull.

"We are in touch," Schwarz said recently. "We played together when I was a youth player in my first season in the second league in Germany.

"First of all, he's a great person and we are in touch. And sometimes it's funny, sometimes we have serious talks. But it's great that we had this experience, especially in Mainz.

"He played an important role for all of us because it was a very formative time in Mainz. I played with him myself as a young player. At the time he was the experienced deputy captain of our team."

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Schwarz's coaching career likely won't reach the heights of Klopp but he has a chance to make his own history as the Red Bulls aim to become the first ever seventh-seed to win the MLS Cup.

Klopp is a hero at Mainz, Liverpool, and Borussia Dortmund, Schwarz now has a chance to become a legend in New York.