Quakes return to play in empty San Jose stadium
Professional soccer returns to San Jose on Wednesday night for the first time since March 7. The Quakes’ game against the Portland Timbers will transpire on familiar turf, in a stadium largely devoid of life.
Fans will not be permitted inside Earthquakes Stadium. Locker rooms remain off limits for players, forcing them to congregate in a stadium concourse stripped of concessions. No starting lineup theatrics over the loudspeaker, no national anthem, no drumming, no chanting, no supporters.
And that’s just fine with the players.
“When we have a ton of fans in the stands and when we have no fans in the stands, all you care about is beating the guy in front of you,” Earthquakes midfielder Shea Salinas said.
Asked in April about the prospect of playing MLS games behind closed doors, LAFC coach Bob Bradley said that “a game without fans has no soul.”
Asked what it was like playing Sunday’s Champions League final in an empty stadium, Paris SaintGermain midfielder Ander Herrera said, “It’s s—, horrible. Football without fans is nothing.”
Make no mistake: The Earthquakes agree — for the most part. Each player interviewed stated his unequivocal preference for playing in front of fans. But the players also relish a purer form of the game that echoes their youth soccer days.
“It almost takes me back to playing soccer as a kid again, where you’re just doing it for your teammates,” Earthquakes defender Tommy Thompson said.
The Quakes became acquainted with spectatorless games in July. They spent five weeks sequestered in MLS’s Walt Disney World bubble, participating in a returntoplay tournament aimed at recovering financial losses — through a TV deal with ESPN. The MLS is Back Tournament went smoothly for most teams, with no positive cases of coronavirus recorded after FC Dallas and Nashville SC were withdrawn near the outset because of outbreaks within their teams.
It went especially smoothly for the Timbers (321), who ended up winning the tournament, and for the Quakes (212), who surprised many by reaching the quarterfinals. An unheralded San Jose group led by a coach who preaches player bonding — Matías Almeyda prioritizes team barbecues as a way to instill unity, for instance — thrived in a format demanding teams generate their own energy in the absence of fans.
Chatter from the players, on the field and on the bench, dominated the telecasts and reverberated around the pitch, mixing with sporadic shouts from coaches.
“I think it’s unique to be able to communicate so clearly with each other on the field because, of course in a normal setting, you can’t hear each other with the fans getting in the way of that,” Thompson said. “I’ve really enjoyed that.”
Salinas enjoyed the same thing, especially from the bench. He didn’t start any of the games in Orlando, so he embraced his primary role of shouting encouragement and directives to teammates who could hear him for once. His biggest moment on the field came when he scored a 98thminute stunner to secure a 43 win over Vancouver, the Quakes’ first victory since Aug. 31.
Salinas also noticed a more sinister byproduct of the players’ amplified voices: referee abuse. Nearly every foul call was met with the same deafening torrent of protest.
“Trash talk kind of happens with guys standing next to each other; there’s not really a whole lot there,” Salinas said. “But the referees, I feel bad for them. … Fifty percent of the people on the field don’t like the call they made, and they usually hear it.”
The MLS regular season resumed last week with the return of inmarket games around the country. Local health guidelines determine the presence of fans, with only Dallas, Nashville, Orlando, Kansas City and Real Salt Lake opting to welcome back fans in a limited capacity. Teams will play 18 regularseason games over the next three months, with the first six scheduled against regional opponents to limit travel.
Although fans won’t cross the turnstiles, the Earthquakes are planning a drivein viewing party outside the stadium. Those fans will remain in their vehicles — one parking space between each serving as a buffer — and watch the action on the big screen facing Coleman Avenue.
Fans like Crystal Cuadra will hop on virtual viewing parties from their homes. Her bedroom bedecked in blue scarves and a banner depicting Chris Wondolowski’s familiar yelling face, Cuadra used Zoom to unite dozens of Quakes fans onscreen for each of the MLS is Back tournament games.
“We felt like it really brought us all together in a time when we really feel separate from each other,” said Cuadra, leader of the Fault Line supporters group. “It’s not the same in the way that you’re not chanting and cheering for the team like you would be in a stadium, but it definitely felt like an increase in camaraderie with our fellow fans.”
Nick Eilerson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nick.eilerson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NickEilerson