The San Jose Earthquakes are…very good, for a change?
The Earthquakes’ 5-1-0 start, with only one goal allowed, is fairly unbelievable for longtime followers of the team. There have been fun, talented, and entertaining teams in the past (or more often, choose one of those three), but this might be the first disciplined and ambitious side in the South Bay.
This website has been following the team for well over a decade. There has not been much to show for it. As the team searches for its 18th point (they had all of 21 points in 2024!) on the road this weekend in Kansas City, Quakes Epicenter is going to try something different and more 2026 for this season.
I will be using this “Quakes Quickie” format to essentially jot off a weekly newsletter that focuses less on the roster construction, game recaps, and the like. Those are well covered by Soccerwise, some of my colleagues who use social media, and the fantastic Slack chat on our Patreon.
Instead, this will be looking at how the Earthquakes have transformed/are transforming via narrative text. I’ll talk about interesting things that I see in the games or otherwise. There’s three purposes here:
- Writing is fun, reading is fun, and hopefully I’m not alone in believing this.
- There are a lot of ways to watch a lot of soccer. If you want to know what happened recently or who a new signing is, you are probably better served watching a recap or a highlight reel than reading.
- In the off chance that the Quakes are doing something really cool this season, somebody ought to be around to chronicle it.
Since I am not Bay Area based, I won’t be doing post-game shows or appear at pressers. I will just be writing about what I notice and what I hope readers find interesting – either at a post-by-post level or by seeing a cohesive whole. Not quite Free Darko style, but something more adjacent.
So here are a few things I have noticed so far:
Bushido-Ball with a Brain
I fairly fell in love with the Matias Almeyda era Earthquakes, who were consistently undermanned but just fought for every tackle. There’s a lot of that in this 2026 team, but also a whole lot more structure.
San Jose goes for every 50/50 and is heads-up on each dead ball, which is great. But unlike those late Wondo teams, these guys have a form and patterns they look for when they win and go forward.
A lot of this is personnel: Preston Judd is consistently a release valve down the channel, while Beau Leroux and Ronaldo Vieira can retain the ball like no other Quake since Magnus Eriksson (and there was only one of him!). But the players also are drilled to find weaknesses: see the San Diego match, when the Earthquakes picked on their poor ex-teammate Oscar Verhoeven, catching him upfield three times for three goals.
Lots of Quakes teams have had an attitude. This one has an attitude and a plan.
The Defense is Structured, but Mobile
On the last Soccerwise, Matt Doyle noted how San Jose changes how they defend from a 4-5-1, 4-4-2, or 4-1-4-1. Or basically, they try and force the opponent to move the ball to spaces where San Jose has advantages.
A lot has been said about how this all comes from the front, and to be sure the disciplined front four (Preston Judd, Niko Tsakiris, Ousseni Bouda, and either Timo Werner or Jack Skahan) have been hyper vigilant. But the centerback pairing of Daniel Munie and Reid Roberts form an incredible anchor.
This is the same duo that did a whole lot of flailing in 2025. I think by being in a back pair instead of 2025’s trio has simplified the game for them and allowed them to rely on athleticism and communication – to play, rather than think.
They’ve held silent both man mountains like Brian White and mobile tricksters like Anders Dreyer. The challenges will come, but for now they have done a clean job at both sweeping up anything that comes past Vieira and withstanding barrages when the opponent is chasing the game. The high-press style relies on Munie/Roberts to be clean at the back, and they have absolutely passed the test
It was interesting to me that when Dave Romney came in at the end of the San Diego match, he was a straight sub for the left back Jamar Ricketts rather than pushing Roberts out wide. Coach Bruce Arena seems to really trust this duo.
Not Just a Collegiate Squad, but a California One
I mentioned this in the Patreon Slack, but there has been a lot said about how these Earthquakes are built through the MLS Superdraft. And while that’s true, it’s also remarkable how Californian this team is.
Of the 11 starters against San Diego, seven either went to high school (Tsakiris), college (Judd, Bouda, Rickets, Roberts), or both (Leroux, Benji Kikanovic) in the Golden State. Midfield substitute Jonathan Gonzalez was seen as “the one who got away” when he left Santa Rosa for the Rayados of Monterrey, only to come back home at the age of 26.
Both Ricketts and Kikanovic are Cal State players who got on the Earthquakes’ radar via their California College Showcase. Leroux, another Cal State system alum, was notably in the Quakes Academy before he hit his growth spurt. Getting three starters-in-ink starters from what is essentially high school ball is either top-notch talent ID, a brilliant system, or likely both.
The team has shed a lot of Homegrowns – four in this past offseason. But if they can rebuild a pipeline that brings soccer value and not only salary relief, they could finally make the most of the diamond mine that is California soccer.
