2020 Season Preview: San Jose Earthquakes

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It was never going to be a worst-to-first story thanks to Los Angeles FC, but it had a shot at a worst-to-second story midway through the 2019 MLS season. Despite losing their first four games of the season (three of them at home) the San Jose Earthquakes found themselves in second place in the Western Conference by early August after a 1-1 home draw against the Columbus Crew. They were on a largely-dominant 10-game unbeaten streak. But something happened in that Crew game which would lead to the Quakes’ undoing the rest of the season – 2018 CONCACAF Coach of the Year Matias Almeyda was outcoached by the Crew’s Caleb Porter. Porter found the chink in the San Jose armor, and laid out a game plan in the second half of how to beat the Quakes for all the league to see. Columbus was able to hold possession through the first 20 minutes of the second half and exhaust San Jose defensively, leaving them out of gas. Only one of the Quakes’ final six shots were on target.

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San Jose Earthquakes 2019 Season Preview

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San Jose Earthquakes 2019 Season Preview

2018 In Review

 The “wooden spoon” award has its roots in the University of Cambridge. It would be awarded to the student who had the lowest marks but still earned a third-class degree. There are also three degrees in MLS: Those who win silverware, those who make the playoffs, and those who do not make the playoffs. Given MLS does not have relegation, obtaining (I almost said “winning” there) the Wooden Spoon just means one still gets to play the next year at the same level. In 2017, the Independent Supporters Council, who instituted the Wooden Spoon award in 2015, renamed it the Anthony Precourt Memorial Wooden Spoon.

This is not the trophy San Jose Earthquakes General Manager Jesse Fioranelli had in mind at the beginning of 2018. He attempted big splashes, signing Allsvenskan Golden Boot winner Magnus Eriksson as a designated player, a fellow Swede to go along with a “real” manager Mikael Stahre (replacing not-interim/interim first-time coach Chris Leitch), also from the Allsvenskan. In keeping the attacking core from 2017 who helped the team snatch the final playoff spot despite a -21 goal differential, plus adding Eriksson, finally getting Panamanian international Harold Cummings healthy, and adding two more young defenders, Fioranelli bet that would be enough to catapult San Jose higher in the Western Conference. It seems he underestimated the MLS talent level compared to middle-of-the-road European leagues and the ability of a foreign coach to quickly integrate a team.

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