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Overlooked Earthquakes splash the cash on big-name MLS stars

The San Jose Earthquakes have not won a playoff game since 2012 but have shown real ambition ahead of the new MLS season.

The San Jose Earthquakes have not won a playoff game since 2012 but have shown real ambition ahead of the new MLS season.
ROBYN BECKAFP

Recent seasons have been barren years for fans of the San Jose Earthquakes. One of the league’s original founding clubs, the Earthquakes have slipped into irrelevance in the past decade, failing to finish any higher than sixth since their MLS Cup-winning 2012 campaign.

San Jose finished rock bottom of the Supporters' Shield rankings in 2024, picking up the wooden spoon for the second time in recent years. But as preparations continue for the 30th season of MLS, the Earthquakes look intent on making sure that it’s a year to celebrate for their long-suffering fans.

Former DC United, LA Galaxy and USMNT head coach Bruce Arena has been brought in to lead the team for the landmark 30th year. Arena, the most successful coach in MLS history, is not likely to settle for more mediocrity. With little over a month to go until the start of the new campaign, the Earthquakes front office has been busy.

Big signings turn the dial for Earthquakes

San Jose finished 2024 stranded at the bottom of the Supporters' Shield rankings, having won just six of their 34 games. The team’s top scorer, Amahl Pellegrino, managed just seven goals last season, four of which came in a six-game purple patch in May.

Goals were a clear priority for the Earthquakes front office and they have brought in two players with real MLS experience: Josef Martínez and Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango.

Martínez arrives after a middling spell with CF Montreal but boasts an incredible MLS CV.

The Venezuela struck 93 goals in 131 MLS games for Atlanta United, firing the team to the 2018 MLS Cup. He scored 35 goals that season, finishing as the league’s MVP, Golden Boot winner and the MLS Cup final MVP. Martínez may now be 31, but he remains an MLS icon.

The other big-name addition, Arango, spent the last 18 months with Real Salt Lake but was available on a cut-price deal after disciplinary issues in 2024.

The Colombian had previously scored 30 goals in 51 games for LAFC en route to the 2022 MLS Cup, resulting in a big-money move to Mexico. A spell at Pachuca didn’t go to plan but he starred again on his return to MLS with RSL. Another 23 MLS goals in 41 games earnt him a place in the All-Star Team and he was a genuine MVP candidate until a drop-off in the second half of the season.

Both players will be expected to play key roles in 2025 but they do pose a potential problem for Arena, who will need to maintain a sense of balance in the team while playing to the strengths of two big-name strikers in their early 30s.

Bruce Arena ready for MLS return

“I can tell you one thing, I think we’re going to make progress,” Bruce Arena joked in a recent conversation with CBS Golazo. “When you finish 29th out of 29, there’s only one way to go.”

“I think the franchise understood that they need to elevate themselves, in terms of how they operate on the competition side and technical side. They need to invest in the facilities, just upgrade the club to give us an opportunity to be successful.”

The big-name signings of Arango and Martínez, allied with the league’s most decorated coach, gives the sense of a total overhaul at the club. But Arena has also stressed that there was real talent in the Earthquakes' roster before he arrived.

He cited Christian Espinoza as “one of the top ten, twenty players in MLS” and highlighted the potential of young midfielder Hernán López. Arena insisted that there remains “a nucleus of players” that, despite struggling in 2024, have the ability to compete at the top end of the table if given the right conditions.

Arena was careful not to overexaggerate what is possible for the Earthquakes in 2025. While some progress is almost inevitable, it will take a lot for the underperforming team to even return to the playoffs this season. The likes of Arena, Arango and Martínez have brought back a sense of optimism to San Jose soccer but the road back to title contention remains very long.

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