MLS Preview: San Jose Earthquakes

Hooligan Soccer

·18 February 2025

MLS Preview: San Jose Earthquakes

Sometimes the burden of past greatness sits too heavily upon a franchise, weighing them down like cement boots. The San Jose Earthquakes are one of these stories. This is a cautionary tale, and not for the constitutionally frail.

Club History

The Quakes harken back to the old NASL (North American Soccer League), where they were one of the original clubs that kicked off back in 1974. They played twelve seasons before the NASL folded, then switched to the Western Soccer Alliance for a few years before entirely disbanding in 1989. Throughout this period attendance was strong, averaging over 10,000 spectators per game.

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Based on this deep soccer tradition, and native enthusiasm for the sport, the franchise was revived and became one of the 10 founding clubs in 1996, but were called the Clash. That unpopular moniker lasted only three years, and the club reverted back to the more beloved Earthquakes in 1999.

Few teams and fan bases have been screwed over as much as the Quakes. The naming fiasco above was merely a minor incident in a long line. Between 1996-2005 they had five different ownership groups. In 2004, the MLS tried to transfer ownership to Mexico’s Club América and rebrand the club San Jose América. When the Quakes GM resigned, the league appointed Alexi Lalas in his place. Lalas subsequently encouraged the club to move to Houston, and then sold the rights to their star player Landon Donovon to his old club: LA Galaxy. After the 2005 season, the club moved to Houston and became the Dynamo, but the Earthquakes name, colors, history and records would remain in San Jose. This is important, because in that decade the Quakes won two MLS Cup trophies (2001 & 2003) and a Supporters Shield (2005).

Revival (2008-current)

The Earthquakes returned in 2008 after a two-year break, ostensibly as the 14th franchise (4th expansion team). My god, professional sports is weird.

Since their return they have had three winning seasons (2010, 2012, 2013), three seasons with a positive goal differential (2010, 2012, 2015), won another Supporters Shield (2012), finished dead last in the league three times and qualified for the postseason only five times. They are, unquestioningly, the WORST team in the MLS over this stretch.

Ownership

We already know about the tumult of their first decade and those five different owners. But since 2008 things haven’t been much better since they were bought by John Fisher, scion of the Gap fashion fortune and much-reviled owner of the Oakland A’s baseball franchise. You would be hard-pressed to find any sports owner more loathed than his waste of carbon. This cheap-ass penny-pincher is so tight the players are lucky they get hot water in the dressing rooms.

Significant Players

Chris Wondolowki (United States) – Forward He’s the GOAT of the MLS, without question. The league’s all-time scorer (171 goals, 167 of those for San Jose). Led the team to the 2012 Supporters Shield. Played 367 games for the Quakes.
Landon Donovon (United States) – Forward Came to Quakes on loan from Bayer Leverkussen. Led the team to two MLS Cup wins.
Joe Cannon (United States) – Goalkeeper Spent seven total seasons with the Quakes, including the 2001 MLS Cup winning one. Has team record for clean sheets (44).
Christian Espinoza (Argentina) – Winger The all-time assist leader (51) and current Designated Player.

Other Facts

PayPal Park (Source)

Have won the Wooden Spoon for the MLS’s worst record more than any other team.
Home pitch is the soccer-specific PayPal Park in Santa Clara, CA. The stadium is right next to San Jose’s Mineta International Airport. You can see the runway in the picture above.
Bay Area punk musician Lars Frederiksen is a die-hard supporter of the Quakes, whom he calls “the most punk rock” in the MLS.
One of the club mottos is “Goonies never say die!”, referring to the team’s clutch last-minute heroics during the 2012 season.

2024 Season Recap

Hold your nose, kids… 6W – 3D – 25L for 21 points. Dead last (14th) in the Western Conference. Dead last (29th) overall. This tied a league-record worst ever points total with the 1999 New York Red Bulls.

Who to Watch 2025

The club hired Bruce Arena, one of the winningest coaches in MLS history, in November 2024 and his solution so far has been to trade for many of his former New England Revolution players (five as of this story). Given that the Revs were the SECOND WORST team in the league last year, this doesn’t instill confidence. In a televised interview on local station KTVU he responded to a question about the team goals for the upcoming 2025 season. “To do better than last year” was the reply. Uh, ya think? YOU WERE LAST.

That said, there have been some interesting moves. The smartest one was separating from Carlos Gruezo, but here are some others to study: Chicho Arango (Columbia) – Forward. His 23 contributions (17 goals; 6 assists) in 34 games led Real Salt Lake in 2024. Given the Quakes only scored 41 all season, anything he can give will be useful. Hernán López (Argentina) – Midfielder My colleague Josep thinks 9 goals in 30 games is acceptable for an attacking midfielder. Maybe on a team as bad as the ‘24 Quakes, but this year has to be better. Or else. Cruz Medina (United States) – Forward Signed a homegrown player contract in 2022 when he was 15 years old. This might be the year we see him on the pitch for the first team after he spent the last two in the USL with affiliate squad The Town FC.