Team signs Kashia to improve at center back

SANJOSE » The Earthquakes have addressed a glaring defensive need with the signing of Georgian center back Guram Kashia, the team announced Thursday.

But the central defender from Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem isn’t going to change San Jose’s fortunes for the 2018 season. The Quakes (2-9- 4, 10 points) are too broken at the moment for one player to make much difference for the 2018 season.

That much was evident after a cheerless 2-2 draw Wednesday night against the New England Revolution — even as players vow to stay positive in a stressful environment.

“It’s clear to everybody that we are not the finished product yet,” teampresident TomFox said. “We’ve still got some issues to correct. We’re optimisticwe can start to address them in the transfer window.”

The Quakes signed Kashia, 30, to a multiyear contract using targeted allocation money. He is scheduled to be eligible to play when the July 10 FIFA transfer window opens if all the necessary paperwork is completed by then.

The move is an acknowledgment that previous center back signings have failed. General manager Jesse Fioranelli used international slots on Francois Affolter of Switzerland and Yeferson Quintana of Uruguay in the past year. Neither has proven to be a dependable starter.

The only success has beenHarold Cummings, who is playing for Panama in the World Cup this month. Cummings was signed by the previous regime of general manager John Doyle and coach Dominic Kinnear.

The faulty moves have forced San Jose to use four international slots for one position, underscoring how a misguided signing has a snowball effect.

The burning question now is whether San Jose officials plan more signings during the midseason transfer window.

“We didn’t do everything in January that we thought we needed to do,” Fox said Wednesday.

Management wanted to see how everything fit together with rookie coach Mikael Stahre and mostly new players.

“We kept some dry powder for the summer to be able to address some needs as we saw them evolve,” Fox added. “We are confident there are some things we can do this summer.”

San Jose is suffering through a historically bad start. The Earthquakes have defeated only Minnesota United this year. They are on a seven-game winless streak in all competitions that include a U.S. Open Cup defeat.

Without a miraculous turnaround, they will miss the Major League Soccer playoffs for the eighth time in 11 years since reentering the league as an expansion team.

Fox had a message for the growing discontent among the dwindling fan base, as illustrated Wednesday nightwhen Avaya Stadium was half empty.

“I understand people’s frustrations,” he said. “I also understand from the outside it may not be as apparent to some people where we’re going, but tous onthe inside we knowwherewe’re going and we knowwhatwe’re trying to do.”

Kashia, the Georgian national team captain, was the first step. He has played for Vitesse since August 2010, making 293 appearances in all competitions. The 6-foot-1 defender had 25 goals and 18 assists for the Dutch team.

Kashia started 32 of 34 games last season in helping Vitesse (1311-10) to a sixth-place finish. He has partnered with U.S. national team defender Matt Miazga the past two seasons and is a Georgian teammate with the Quakes’ Valeri Qazaishvili.

Fioranelli said San Jose began targeting a “high- quality” center back ahead of the transfer window. But the team wanted more than a talented player.

“In addition to his extensive experience, he is a leader both on and off the field, and we’re confident he will be an important addition to our squad,” the general manager said in a prepared statement.

Fox said the latter part of the equation was crucial to the type of the player the team wanted to add.

“Everyone talks about the spine of a team and how important it is,” he said.

But management also is trying to get the chemistry right by blending experience with youth.

“It is a complicated cocktail in that locker room,” Fox said. “With all the change we’ve had, we’re not only tinkering with individual positions and players, we’re also trying to make sure we’re cognizant of the environment we’re creating and building a more winning mentality.”