This time seven years ago, beloved head coach and South Bay-native Dominic Kinnear was fired by the San Jose Earthquakes. The timing was odd, considering the team was coming off a win and still firmly inside the playoff picture. Chris Wondolowski was so distraught by the move that he walked out of a press conference when asked about it a day later.
On Saturday, Kinnear returned to PayPal Park, no longer on any sort of hot seat, but now rather, on arguably the best ride in all of Major League Soccer. As lead assistant coach for FC Cincinnati, he’s helped young head coach Pat Noonan guide the team from league worst in 2021 to Supporters Shield winners just two years later.
The same can’t be said for San Jose, which since that fateful firing, have cycled through five other head coaches in search of something better. And after losing to Noonan’s men in disastrous fashion at home, Luchi Gonzalez might become the sixth if things don’t turn around soon.
“We can’t control the past,” a somber Gonzalez said after the 4-2 loss on Saturday. As they have been all this year, the result keeps San Jose glued to the bottom of the league table with only 11 points through 17 games played.
“Our goal for the second half of the season is to be a top-three team in the conference points-wise from this point on,” he declared. “If we do that, we’ll get into the playoffs.”
While the spirit in the locker room and training ground (for now) reflect that aspiration, one can’t help but wonder that if there was indeed a switch to be flipped with this team, that it would have been flipped already. Perhaps after the 5-1 drubbing at New York City FC two weeks ago, or the late 4-2 collapse at Portland Timbers before that. I’ll stop there, but the list continues.
An astonishing 30 points now separates the Quakes from the sort of contenders Gonzalez alluded to his team needing to emulate. If they are ever to achieve that pace of winning, they’ll first have to sort out what is happening in the game’s final 15 minutes.
San Jose held a 2-1 lead heading into the 77th minute against Cincinnati, who had lost one of their defensive stalwarts, Matt Miazga, to a brutal leg injury 10 minutes before. Instead of killing off the game, the Quakes suffered a complete meltdown—conceding three goals, all finished off by substitute Yuya Kubo, in less than nine minutes of play.
The first came from a blistering counter-attack after the hosts committed too many numbers forward chasing a third goal. Another came in short fashion after 2023 MVP winner Luciano Acosta drove past three defenders inside the box. And finally the death knell after a turnover in midfield left an inexperienced center back duo of Tanner Beason and Daniel Munie to fend helplessly for themselves.
“I thought we had very good control of this game,” Gonzalez said. “Until it got to that moment where collectively we broke down mentally, tactically and physically. That’s something that we’ve got to fix.”
In spurts, the Quakes look like a side that can score against anybody. New record signing Hernán López and last season’s All Star Cristian Espinoza have genuine game-breaking ability, as evidenced by the latter’s 72nd minute golazo.
But last year, this team rode a minus-26 improvement in goals conceded to a feel-good season. Through only half the season played this year, they’ve already conceded the same amount of goals (43) they gave up in the entirety of last year. To make matters worse, starting left-sided center back Bruno Wilson was announced to be sidelined likely for the rest of the year with a hamstring injury.
FC Cincinnati is another one of the top-three that Gonzalez should hope to take after. After finishing with the league-best record last year, the men in orange are keeping pace with Messi and Inter Miami at the top of the league table with an astonishing 36 points through the same amount of matches played.
Similar to San Jose, the organization parted ways with its high-profile international general manager after the pandemic and plucked Chris Albright from the Philadelphia Union, which despite being one of the lowest spending teams in MLS, has managed to stay in championship contention through having a strong academy and an effective playing style.
Albright brought with him Noonan, who was an assistant on those Philadelphia teams. Together, they made a sweeping 24 roster moves, highlighted by Acosta, and turned the Ohio side into one of the league’s most stout defenses by playing a 3-4-1-2 system. Strikers Brandon Vazquez and Brenner benefitted along the way, both eventually sold to foreign clubs for a hefty profit, after doing their rendition of the Goonies Quakes’ bash brothers up top.
This year, they doubled down on the strategy, spending big to bring in rising star center back Miles Robinson from the U.S. Men’s National Team and Atlanta United. On Saturday, the visitors played their role brilliantly, being hard to break down and silencing the crowd every time the hosts picked up any momentum.
More importantly, they’ve conceded less than half the goals the Quakes have all year. How can Gonzalez’s men find such form again in short order? Another game against Portland is already fast arriving on Wednesday.
When the vibes are good yet the points are lacking, something has got to change. Three coaches have already been dismissed this year in MLS: Gary Smith in Nashville after six years of service, Nico Estevez after three years in Dallas, and the same for Gonzalo Pineda in Atlanta.
After letting go of Kinnear, then-GM Jesse Fioranelli justified the move by saying, “I think we can achieve more.”
You can say the Quakes have been trying to ever since.
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen is a business and sports journalist. He has covered soccer for The Guardian, The Sacramento Bee, and The San Francisco Standard. Follow him on X/Twitter @KevinNguyen_89
