San Jose Earthquakes Off to Franchise Best Start | OneFootball

Fire and flood could not stop the Earthquakes last Saturday at PayPal Park. The fire was courtesy of the usual pre-game pyrotechnics, and the flames that celebrate every goal scored. Those flares would ignite three times. The flood came from a wonky sprinkler head. It wouldn’t turn off after the halftime watering, and the grounds crew spent twenty minutes with brooms pushing the water off the pitch so the game could restart.

Pre-game fireworks at PayPal Park. Photo credit: author.

A Tough Test with a Big Reward

San Diego FC would present the Quakes’ second straight Western Conference challenge. Prior to the international break, they traveled to Vancouver and put in a gritty performance against the MLS Cup finalists. Flying home with a 1-0 win from Beau Leroux’s laser strike put them at 4 wins and 1 loss.

As the team was warming up, a Quakes official swung by the press pool, casually dropping the news that a win would give the team its best start to a season… ever. The club was founded in 1974. In 52 years, the team had never gone 5W 1L (or better) to start a campaign.

Needless to say my heart sank upon hearing those words, it smacked of saying “good luck” to a theater performer before the curtain rises. The rosters handed out pre-game didn’t improve my outlook. The Earthquakes were missing Timo Werner (injured back) and their starting left back DeJuan Jones (lost to a season-ending ACL tear). Their front three was thin on experience. Preston Judd, Ousséni Bouda and Jack Skahan cumulatively had 15 starts for the club prior to this game. 

My prevailing sentiment was that San Diego FC, last year’s Western Conference champions, would be too strong. Marcus Ingvartsen was back from suspension, Anders Dreyer was probably still pissed that Denmark got knocked out of the World Cup (he had been called up but didn’t play over the break), and the club was still smarting from elimination from their debut Champions Cup to Toluca. Surely that disappointment would be channeled.

I was flat out wrong.

Earthquakes Came to PLAY

This became evident with energy and precision San Jose showed right after the whistle. They pressed relentlessly, and in the 13th minute an errant backpass from Lewis Morgan was pounced on by Judd. He rolled the ball into Nico Tsakaris’ run, and the 20 year old rocketed a shot into the near post with his left foot. The keeper had no chance.

The Quakes had great success carving through San Diego’s lines, and in the 32nd minute Judd got behind the defense and drove into the box. Manu Duah closed in on him, lost his footing and brought him down. It was a clear penalty.

But VAR would get involved, and ultimately the referee Fotis Bazakos would issue a red card after consulting the monitor.

Nico Tsakaris, after standing at the spot nearly four minutes cradling the ball, coolly dispatched the spot-kick with a powerful kick to the side netting. With that goal, he became the second youngest player with a brace since Landon Donovan. Pretty good company.

Reduced to ten, and facing nearly an hour more to play, San Diego didn’t roll over. They maintained good discipline and still finished with 60% possession, though this was heavily limited to defensive end passing. They conceded one additional goal when Preston Judd scored in the second half, but Duran Ferree made seven more saves to keep the scoreline respectable.

In the end, the Earthquakes did manage to produce their best ever start to a season. The next question is whether they can keep that momentum when they visit last place Sporting Kansas City next Saturday.