San Jose Earthquakes take Supporters' Shield lead behind historic start | OneFootball

By Cal Meachem

The San Jose Earthquakes are in uncharted waters.

After staging a second-half comeback against Austin FC on Wednesday night at PayPal Park, eventually winning 5-1, San Jose became the first team in MLS's post-shootout era (2000) to win eight of their first nine games to begin a season.

With a league-best 24 points, they're ahead of Vancouver Whitecaps FC on the Supporters' Shield table with one more game played.

“I think winning games is a starting point. We won nine games last year. We have eight now," said head coach Bruce Arena after the match.

"Hopefully, we can get past nine, and that remains to be seen."

Unlikely contender

Back in preseason, when asked to predict who would sit atop the Supporters' Shield standings at this point, few would have picked San Jose.

The club finished 10th in the Western Conference a year ago to miss out on the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. Then, they lost three key attackers – Josef Martínez, Chicho Arango and Cristian Espinoza – during the offseason. 

But that hasn't derailed San Jose, who are tied for the league lead in goals scored (22) and have evolved into a defensive juggernaut. The Quakes have conceded just four goals all season, tied for the second-fewest in MLS.

"Just the consistency of our team," Arena remarked.

"Obviously, we're a better team defensively this year. Last year, we just made so many foolish errors and conceded goals. But obviously, we have a better team this year. They work for each other."

More to come

San Jose are getting incredible early-season performances from Preston Judd (5g/2a), Ousseni Bouda (5g/1a) and homegrown midfielder Niko Tsakiris (2g/6a), to go along with German superstar Timo Werner (2g/4a).

But Arena, who took over ahead of the 2025 campaign, isn't getting out over his skis.

"It's all going to come down to the second half of the season," said the five-time MLS Cup presented by Audi champion. "It's great to have a good start, but again, it's a grind. We have another 25 games left. There's a lot of soccer being played.

"We're really pleased with the group to date. But this is a long haul. We've got to be prepared for not only the good days, but some of the days that aren't so good."

WATCH: An earthquake of goals for Supporters' Shield-leading San Jose