Quakes looking to playoffs — and beyond
The significance of the Earthquakes’ final regular-season game Sunday afternoon has not been lost on general manager Jesse Fioranelli.
But as much as he feels the building excitement of a possible Major League Soccer playoff appearance, Fioranelli also has not forgotten his bigger mission.
“The way we define success in San Jose should not just be a result of making the playoffs or not,” he said this week.
While it’s committing MLS heresy to suggest otherwise, Fioranelli will not place the team’s future on the outcome of the home game against Minnesota United FC no matter how much is at stake.
For the first time in five years the Quakes (12-14-7, 43 points) are on the cusp of advancing to the postseason. All they need to do is defeat a ninth-place expansion team to secure the final of six Western Conference playoff spots.
FC Dallas (43 points) and Real Salt Lake (42 points) remain in contention should the Quakes falter at home where they are 9-2-5 this year. If San Jose loses or ties, Dallas or Salt Lake would overtake the Earthquakes with a victory.
Some fans — OK, many — will it consider it a monumental collapse should San Jose mess this one up.
Such sentiment doesn’t concern Fioranelli, who said the team expects a sold-out crowd of 18,000 fans for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Avaya stadium.
Fioranelli’s first year has been one of growing pains as he attempts to build San Jose’s longterm health. The general manager fired highly respected coach Dominic Kinnear in midseason after a 6-6-5 start.
Fioranelli then promoted unseasoned Chris Leitch, the team’s technical director who had never held a head coaching job. The Quakes are 6-8-2 under Leitch, but have suffered a handful of embarrassing defeats. They share the worst goal differential in the West with Minnesota at -22.
The team also switched goalkeepers, opting for Andrew Tarbell over 2016 All-Star David Bingham, who is unlikely to return next season.
The roles of designated player Simon Dawkins and fifth-year winger Cordell Cato also diminished.
Fioranelli declined to discuss offseason player moves while the 2017 campaign continues. But Cato’s return is unlikely whereas Dawkins’ status is unclear.
The general manager also wouldn’t say much about Leitch’s future.
“We want to sit down together and see what went right and what went wrong,” he said. “It’s not just about the person, it’s about the substance. It’s about how we approached this season.”
The approach was experimental at times as the Earthquakes tried to figure out a way forward. First a new coach, then a new formation that favored attacking but left the team too vulnerable on defense.
Leitch now has settled for a standard 4-4-2 lineup that Kinnear favored.
“We have tried every single player and every single system, and maybe even too much,” Fioranelli said. “That’s part of the learning curve in order to start to find that certainty.”
But in his assessment, the fiddling has given the Quakes a backbone that will grow even stronger next year.
The directive is simple: San Jose wants to play with the verve of Germany’s Red Bull Leipzig, Mexico’s Chivas or Italy’s Lazio.
“They might not be the highest of all Champions League teams but they are exciting,” Fioranelli said. “We have to take some tough decisions so that we can get out of a comfort zone and realize that what is slightly outside of it is where the honey hole is.”
The shuffling of players into and out of the starting lineup might have seemed disjointed. But it has given many a chance to feel valued going forward.
Leitch seems to have found a winning formula with an experienced unit that includes the midfield muscle of Anibal Godoy and Darwin Ceren.
Instead of promising a big offseason signing spree, Fioranelli is intent on adding to the core he created over the past year.
“I can tell you in the future there won’t be any revolutions, either,” the general manager said. “That is not beneficial and we never want to do that. We want to build on what we know. A new signing has to fit what San Jose represents. We have to feel it.”
Fioranelli and his staff plan to look closely at players from the United Soccer League affiliate in Reno as well as the youth academy for possible additions.
He also expects the foreigners who signed in the last year to stay.
“All the players that came here wanted to come here,” Fioranelli said. “Now that they are here they don’t want to go away. That is not irrelevant.”
Not for the game Sunday and beyond.