Can Coach Arena Pull Off A Third MLS Success Story?

QOBC, S5, E1 - January 7, 2025

source: sjearthquakes.com

Josh: Happy New Year! A new year of hope (?) and excitement for the New Jose Eartholution.

Matt: In Massachusetts, the land of the Red Sox, hope always springs eternal – how about in San Jose? Bruce can be a polarizing figure, but I expect he will continue to show his ability to put players in positions to succeed. 

Josh: For living in such a beautiful area with consistently pleasant weather, you’d think SJ fans would always be hopeful. But responses on social suggest that two wooden spoons in the past three years is a dagger to the community spirit. Agreed on bringing on players that he brought up and those that like working with him, but did you think that many swaps would happen?

Matt: I didn’t expect, at least to the scale it is happening, for him to import whole chunks of his previous team so quickly. Here are the exchanges between San Jose & New England this off-season….so far.

From San Jose to New England - Tanner Beason (FA), Jackson Yueill (FA)

From New England to San Jose - Dave Romney, Mark Anthony Kaye, and Ian Harkes for 500K GAM and a 2025 international roster spot, Earl Edwards Jr. (for 150K GAM), Nick Lima (FA), the #5 pick in the MLS Superdraft for 200K.

Also worth mentioning - not only is Arena going to be in the technical area for the Quakes, but Shalrie Joseph, who coached with him in New England, will also be there. So will Steve Ralston, who briefly coached the Quakes in 2018 and played in four MLS Cup Finals for the Revs. And Adin Brown, the GK Coach, was named 2002 Defender of the Year for the Revs between the posts, also playing in the MLS Cup Final. It’s a reunion of sorts, for sure.

I’m not willing to bet that Bruce is done with moves - Bruce likes his guys, and Porter seems to feel that he doesn’t click well with them. Of that crew, I think Romney will be missed the most. He’s a really solid player, an Ironman who played EVERY MINUTE of the 2023 season who was named Revolution Team Defender for both 2023 and 2024. And, by all accounts, a good human. Call me old fashioned, but in my book that’s always important.

Josh: You’re old fashioned.

Matt: I appreciate you.

Josh: I enjoyed watching Romney when I was supporting your Revs, and am happy about Nick Lima, after watching him shine in Austin the minute he left San Jose a couple years back. I’m sure the fans who watch the dollar signs aren’t super excited about trading away almost $1M in GAM, however that works, though. I’m also proud to say that many of the off-season moves follow my predictions and wishes for the off-season trade & contract season. To review, I recommended these moves:

Re-sign: Ebobisse

Club options that should be exercised: Baldisimo, Beason, Daniel, Marcinkowski, Munie, Ricketts

On the fence: Richmond, Thompson

Let go: Akapo, Jackson, Morales, Walls, Yarborough, Yeuill

I wasn’t 100%, but I’m feeling like I did pretty well. 0/1 on “Re-sign,” “Options” - 3/6, and I apparently missed that Bouda was on that fence, but I would’ve been right. And 6/6 for “Let Go.” But of course, not everyone who wasn’t optioned or is “out of contract” was scooped up by the trade market, so we might see some of those names back in Black & Blue. I’m most disappointed that Ebobisse will be in the Black & Gold in SoCal this season.

Matt: So far, I think the club (read: Bruce Arena) looks like it is making reasonable decisions. I hope JT is in good health and his knee is fully recovered. If so, he’ll land somewhere. He’s a good GK and not done yet. I’m not shocked about Ebobisse, but only because things weren’t clicking for him in San Jose. If he gets regular minutes with LAFC and starts getting some goal contributions, it will be just like Dejuan Jones’s move to Columbus - it wasn’t the player, it was the situation holding him back.

Josh: Well said. I hope I’m reading it wrong, and maybe more details will be revealed in the coming days, but in the sjearthquakes.com news post about the full coaching staff announcement (link) there is no mention of number 8/infinity Chris Wondolowski supporting Coach Arena in his move to San Jose. I really hope that’s an omission. While change is the only constant, and shakeups were needed for the team, if we don’t see Wondo or Shea this Spring, it will feel like we’ve lost some of that hometown spirit.

Meanwhile, the front office is calling the 2025 season “The Biggest Schedule in Club History.” That’s because we finally get… wait for it… San Jose vs. New England in mighty Gillette Stadium! Well, they don’t mention it, but that’s what I’m excited about. Obviously, it will also be exciting to welcome San Diego to the league, Miami to PayPal Park (with Messi?), and turns out there can be fun marketing for being part of the largest MLS yet, at 30 teams.

Matt: The Miami Messis, I mean Inter Miami, came to Foxborough last year and it was honestly a blast. The Revs scored 30 seconds in, and it was the biggest hype moment before Miami finished the drubbing 5-1. The crowd was electric, and even though I wanted the Revs to win, it was very exciting to see Messi, Suarez, and Bousquets, who makes youngsters with no injuries look like little leaguers. A Miami-with-Messi-in-the-lineup contest will result in an exciting night in Paypal Park, I guarantee it! 

I had a suspicion Major League Soccer couldn’t resist the “Bruce Arena Returns to Foxborough” storyline. The last time the Revs and Quakes played each other, it was in Gillette Stadium and the Revs won it 3-1. In my humble opinion, without Arena it would have been Revs in Paypal Park. With Arena, it’s gotta be back in Foxborough. In the big picture, getting back to your point, I think there’s a very good chance the Quakes will have a season where they’re contending every match. 

Josh: And maybe that means in 2026, we’ll play the Revs again and you’ll be in the away jersey in PayPal Park.

Matt: I would love that!

Josh: So far, mostly happy with the shuffles. Coach Bruce says he was held to a higher standard and is minimizing whatever went down two seasons ago, and I hope he’s being truthful - AND that he holds himself to a higher standard now that he’s back in the league.

Matt: This might have been his last chance to coach at the professional level, and I’d like to think he’s going to do his best to keep everything squeaky clean.

Josh: Counting down 30 days until Coachella Valley where the new Quakes will try their luck at some preseason action, and MLS fans will get to see San Diego field their first team. And then about 50 days until 2025 kicks off against Real Salt Lake in PayPal Park on February 22. Vamos SJ!

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