Quakes ready to take the next step
Swedish coach, players give San Jose fans hopes of playoff berth
SAN JOSE >> The Earthquakes will open the new season with a mix of young talent, hungry vets and Swede sensations.
But will it be a sweet season? Nick Lima, a 23-year-old Homegrown right back, sure thinks so.
The former Cal star can sense more looseness in the ranks after the team made the playoffs last season for the first time in five years. Players have a quiet resolve.
“I think last year the goal was said a little too much, ‘This is what we want to do.’” Lima said last week. “We don’t train to lose. We want to go to the MLS Cup. This city, San Jose, has a history of cups. We have the talent. We just need to put it all together.”
Today’s season opener against Minnesota United FC at Avaya Stadium will pit teams that met in the 2017 regular-season finale, with the Quakes prevailing 3-2 to clinch a playoff spot.
As for the Quakes’ Sweden influx, it’s striking.
There’s new coach Mikael Stahre and designated player Magnus Eriksson, a left-footed
forward/winger with a confident air. Left back Joel Qwiberg, born in Colombia but raised in Sweden, has thrived with Sweden clubs.
Team captain Chris Wondolowski is excited about the club’s new Swede life. He jokes that the team might even go with IKEA furniture in the press box.
Stahre’s coaching style fits Wondo’s style well.
“I love it. It’s really going to fit well in this league.” said Wondolowski, who is 12 goals away from breaking Landon Donovan’s all-time MLS scoring mark of 145. “He comes in, has a good mentality, especially defensively. … Offensively, he kind of wants us to express ourselves. We have some talent now and nice weapons.”
Eriksson, 27, will be counted on to rev up an attack that produced just 39 goals in 34 games last season, fewer than all but two teams in MLS. He will work up top with the likes of Dutchman Danny Hoesen, a breakout star in the U.S. Open Cup. Homegrown Tommy Thompson enjoyed a sharp preseason, scoring twice in a 4-2 road win over the Los Angeles Galaxy. Anibal Godoy of Panama anchors the midfield.
Stahre, who has coached in Sweden, China, and Greece, says he has a “great feeling” about this team as he adjusts to a new country, new cast, and the MLS way. As for a return trip to the playoffs?
“I can’t guarantee that, but we will try, we will try,” he says. “I think we have a shot. That’s the good thing over here. All teams are in an equal league, right?”
As for the youth movement, the team will enter its opener with an average age of 24.5. Seven of the eight youngest players on the roster were signed in the offseason.
Eriksson, 27, looked energized after a recent practice. He had 14 goals and six assists for the Swedish club Djugardens last season.
“It’s going good. I think the start here has been great,” Eriksson said. “We went for training camp in Arizona. First trip to get together on a ground-floor level, so it was good. The games that we played, decent performance, OK. We’re getting there.”
During an uneven 2017 season full of home thrills and nasty road spills, the Quakes were a poor 3-12-2 away. It all came to a crashing end with a 5-0 playoff loss in Vancouver. San Jose played the final 18 games under replacement coach Chris Leitch, who replaced fired Dominic Kinnear in June. Leitch has returned to his former position as the team’s technical director.
In a nice offseason score, the Quakes acquired Hoesen on a permanent transfer from Dutch side FC Groningen. He played on loan for San Jose last season, notching five goals and five assists.
The defense, which has moved on without Victor Bernardez and Andres Imperial, looks revamped. Lima was a bright spot as an MLS rookie, even earning a January U.S. national team camp invitation. Panama international center back Harold Cummings is back. He sat out last season after suffering a broken leg back home, which forced Florian Jungwirth to drop from defensive midfielder to the back, where he thrived. Newcomer Yeferson Quintana, 21, of Uruguay, has looked good in camp alongside Cummings. Francois Affolder of Switzerland is another center back. Veteran Shea Salinas is competing with Qwiberg for the left-back spot after playing as a wide midfielder. Salinas, like Wondolowski, says a goal this season is to get a home playoff game.
Goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell, firstround in the 2016 MLS draft, is back after starting 11 games.
The club freed up midfield space by unloading DP Simon Dawkins and dealing Darwin Ceren to Houston. In a surprise move, Costa Rican international Marcos Urena, who had five goals and two assists last season, was left unprotected and scooped up by expansion franchise Los Angeles FC.
Dynamic Georgian DP Vako is a key attacking piece. Jahmir Hyka, a left midfielder from Albania, is vying with Thompson for time. Fatai Alashe and Jackson Yueill are among those firmly in the midfield mix.
As for Stahre’s first Quakes’ boot camp? It began with a focus on defense. Then he turned to the attack. The focus last week? “Everything,” he said.
• The team recently signed three homegrown academy players: Gilbert Fuentes and Jacob Akanyirige, both 16, and goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski. Fuentes and Akanyirige both played in Pleasanton’s Ballistic United.