New direction for Quakes ahead of rivalry match
The California Clasico is about as good as it gets for local Major League Soccer. Since the rivalry game between the San Jose Earthquakes and the L.A. Galaxy has been held at Stanford Stadium — every year since 2012 — it has regularly drawn 50,000-plus fans, and the environment crackles with rare energy and excitement.
This year, the atmosphere will also be pulsing with questions. Because Saturday night’s game is a clash between two teams trying to figure out who they are.
“It’s been two or three difficult days for all of us,” Earthquakes general manager Jesse Fioranelli said Thursday.
Fioranelli chose this week — traditionally one of the
most high-profile weeks of the season — to completely shake up his club. He fired wellrespected coach Dominic Kinnear, installed 38-year old Chris Leitch as head coach and made it clear that status quo is not OK anymore.
“In the last two months, I had grown increasingly concerned,” Fioranelli said. “This gives us a chance to redirect things while we still have time this season.”
In retrospect, this isn’t too much of a shock. Longtime general manager John Doyle brought Kinnear, his best friend, back to the Earthquakes in 2015. Kinnear had been a terrific MLS coach in San Jose and Houston, but the team never really clicked under him and the pressure was on with the team’s elevated profile, thanks to Avaya Stadium. Doyle was fired in August. In the offseason, Fioranelli was hired as the permanent replacement to Doyle. (Leitch had stepped in as interim general manager at the end of last season.)
General managers like to hire their own coaches. And Fioranelli had become convinced that he and Kinnear would part ways at the end of the season. So rather than just play out the string, he decided to cut ties now.
“The job given to me was to redirect the ship,” Fioranelli said. “We will invest in change. Have a more courageous identity. Create bridges internationally.”
Fioranelli is trying to push the Earthquakes in what many consider is the new direction of MLS. While Kinnear and others flourished in a league that focused on finding players in the domestic market, new tools — like the Targeted Allocation Money — are putting a premium on international scouting. MLS clubs can now compete with leagues around the world to sign new talent.
And that’s a perfect fit for Fioranelli, who is Swiss and who came to the Earthquakes from AS Roma. In a flurry of signings, the Earthquakes added several foreign players, all under 30. The most recent signing is attacking midfielder Valeri Qazaushvii, a Georgian who will be eligible July 10. Fioranelli promises more announcements in the coming months.
In addition, the Earthquakes have established one of the league’s promising youth academies, which Leitch helped to build as technical director. Ten players, all local, are on various U.S. youth teams from U-16 to U-20. That’s a good sign, as the original goal of MLS was to improve the quality of American soccer.
Fioranelli, who was encouraged by his team’s win in the U.S. Open Cup over Seattle on Wednesday night, has to hope the moves will create some excitement. The Earthquakes haven’t been in the playoffs since 2012, and their fans have felt left out. Attendance has dropped over the past two seasons, despite the draw of Avaya Stadium. Fans love captain Chris Wondolowski, now 34, but have watched other national team players and big-name foreign “designated players” land with other MLS clubs.
But, as the Galaxy are showing, that’s not always the answer. The Galaxy’s go-to move over the years has been to sign superstars, like David Beckham, Robbie Keane or Stephen Gerrard. Some work out, some don’t. The current Galaxy roster includes England’s Ashley Cole, Mexico’s Giovanni dos Santos and former national team player Jermaine Jones. Still, the postBruce Arena Galaxy are also trying to find their way, currently in sixth place in the Western Conference standings, one point behind the fifth-place Earthquakes.
“You can sign a big star, and get an immediate impact — three or four thousand extra fans in the stadium — but you have to ask yourself if this is really the direction MLS wants to go,” Fioranelli said. “You want to build an identity that speaks to the fans’ hearts and passion.”
This is the time for heart and passion in soccer. In the next year, even casual soccer fans will engage with the sport in the buildup to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The new faces that Arena has brought into the U.S. men’s national team are already bringing excitement. It’s the kind of spotlight and atmosphere that those in MLS always hope will spill over into their product and boost interest and excitement.
It’s what Fioranelli wants, starting this week.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” he said.
And the California Clasico is a good place to start.