As one of the first 10 teams that appeared in the MLS, San Jose Earthquakes (formerly known as San Jose Clash) have achieved a fair amount of titles in the course of their history. The Quakes have won 2 MLS Cup titles in 2001 and 2003, two Supporters’ Shields in 2005 and 2012 and got to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2002. Despite some great achievements in their history, San Jose have not been good for a while. In the last season, they finished 12th in the west and 23rd overall. With only 4 wins in the course of 34 games, San Jose were deservingly the worst team in the league. On the bright side, there is only 1 way they can go in the 2019 season and that is up.
Head Coach: Matías Almeyda
After a disastrous last season, the team fired Mikael Stahre as their head coach and replaced him with Matías Almeyda. Almeyda, former professional Argentinian defender has had a long career, playing for teams like Sevilla, Lazio, Parma, Inter and others. Since his retirement in 2011, Matías Almeyda coached 3 teams; River Plate, Banfield and Guadalajara, until he got signed as the head coach of San Jose on October 8th 2018. As the head coach, he has achieved numerous titles with the clubs he guided. With River Plate, he won the Primera B Nacional in 2011/12. Only 2 years later he managed to do the same with Banfield. With Guadalajara, Matías Almeyda won Liga MX: Clasura in 2017, two Copa MX titles, Supercopa MX title in 2016 and CONCACAF Champions League title in 2018. Due to his excellent performances as a head coach, he was awarded Clasura 2017 best Coach award as well as CONCACAF Men’s Football Coach of the Year in 2018.
Transfers
| Date | Name | Moving from | Moving to | Mode of Transfer |
| January 11, 2019 | Siad Haji | VCU Rams | San Jose Earthquakes | SuperDraft |
| January 18, 2019 | Daniel Vega | Tampa Bay Rowdies | San Jose Earthquakes | Free |
| January 23, 2019 | Cade Cowell | San Jose Earthquakes Academy | San Jose Earthquakes | Homegrown player |
| November 29, 2018 | Kevin Partida | Reno 1868 | San Jose Earthquakes | Transfer |
| January 2, 2019 | Cristian Espinoza | Villarreal | San Jose Earthquakes | Loan |
| January 6, 2019 | Marcos López | Sporting Cristal | San Jose Earthquakes | Transfer |
| December 20, 2018 | Judson | Tombense | San Jose Earthquakes | Loan |
| January 31, 2019 | Jahmir Hyka | San Jose Earthquakes | Maccabi Netanya | Free |
| February 15, 2019 | Dominic Oduro | San Jose Earthquakes | Charlotte Independence | Free |
| January 20, 2019 | Mohamed Thiaw | San Jose Earthquakes | Miami FC | Free |
| February 14, 2019 | Chris Wehan | San Jose Earthquakes | New Mexico United | Free |
| January 17, 2019 | Danny Musovski | San Jose Earthquakes | Reno 1868 | Transfer |
Expectations for the 2019 season
Considered as one of the bottom 3 teams when it comes to chances to win the MLS Cup. I guess that’s what you get if you finish as the last team previous season. Not only that, but San Jose have only managed to climb to the playoffs once since 2012. It’s hard to pinpoint where San Jose will finish, with their biggest signing being the new coach. While I don’t believe they will get to finish among the top 7 in their conference, at least they do not look as bad as they did last season.
