SAN JOSE – The Earthquakes have finally crossed the line. Sitting in seventh place with 26 points, head coach Matías Almeyda appears to finally be settling in as more than just a coach. He is now becoming an effective manager. Adjustments to the roster, rotations in the lineup, and a new twist of potentially unorthodox assignments on the pitch are showing the signs of brilliant potential the club invested in by hiring him. While the MLS Is Back bubble tournament of 2020 seemed to prove his ability to succeed in the league, the 2021 season showed mixed results. The month of June was bad. A scoreless tie in Austin, a brutal defeat in Orlando and an ugly loss at home to the LA Galaxy – no one was happy. Then came July.
The club acquired Brazilian center back Nathan from Swiss Super League side FC Zurich. They parted ways with general manager Jesse Fioranelli. Change was in the air. Over five matches in July, the Earthquakes never lost. Four ties in a row paved the way to a road win over division rival Seattle on the road. Suddenly things began to look different.
Entering August, the Earthquakes traded defender Florian Jungwirth to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The club then acquired forward Jeremy Ebobisse from the Portland Timbers. While defender Jackson Yueill was away for some time with the United States Men’s National Team on the Gold Cup tournament tour, and with forward Cade Cowell called up briefly for national team duty, it seemed the Earthquakes would again suffer critical roster depletion during an important stretch. However, for the second month in a row, the Earthquakes haven’t lost. While July featured four ties and one win, August featured three ties and two wins. That 100% increase in the win column is highlighted by a win over LAFC at home and win over the LA Galaxy on the road.
For those paying attention, that’s a 10-match unbeaten streak through the MLS All-Star break. The club must now return its attention to the pitch as a busy month begins. September features six matches, four of which are at home. The two on the road are both in Texas, versus FC Dallas on September 11, and versus Austin FC on September 18. The tail-end rematches with LAFC and Seattle, both at home, will complete the most challenging test yet for this evolving club.
Almeyda is aware of the transformation. “We have been improving for a while now,” he said, and while he and the entire club probably feel they should have won more matches that they ended with ties, Almeyda is clear that he really likes how the team is playing. “We recovered our identity,” he continued. Once on the outside looking in, the Earthquakes now sit in a playoff-eligible position that, if the season were to end today, would match them up against an opponent they can not only beat, but that they have proven they can compete with, if not defeat, on the road. Almeyda knows this, the players believe this, and the fans now feel this.
The Earthquakes compete at home on Saturday, September 4 versus the Colorado Rapids. That match kicks off at 7:00pm PST.
Ahsan Awan has been covering sports for over a decade, including professional soccer and the San Jose Earthquakes since 2014. All images taken by Ahsan Awan for American Presswire and ©2021 American Presswire. He can be found on Twitter as @quackarazzi and on Instagram as @quackarazzi.