After narrowly missing the MLS Cup playoffs, the San Jose Earthquakes are hoping history repeats itself when it comes to head coach Bruce Arena heading into Saturday night’s season opener with visiting Sporting Kansas City.
The Earthquakes are the fifth MLS team coached by the 74-year-old Arena, a former head coach of the U.S. men’s national team and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. All four of his previous teams made the playoffs his second full season in charge, and three of them won the Supporters’ Shield.
San Jose, which lost a tiebreaker to Real Salt Lake for the final Western Conference playoff berth last season, buzzed through the preseason with three wins, two by shutout, and made a major splash by signing German international Timo Werner.
The 29-year-old Werner, who has scored 24 goals in 57 career matches with the German national team, was inked to a Designated Player contract after an injury-plagued season at RB Leipzig. He is being counted on to help fill the scoring void created by the loss of striker Josef Martinez (team-leading 14 goals) and forward Cristian Espinoza (team-leading 12 assists), who both departed in the offseason.
However, Arena said Werner will likely miss the season opener dealing with visa issues.
“He has not arrived yet, we’re working on his visa,” Arena told Sirius XM radio earlier this week. “I expect him to be here over the weekend or early next week.”
Sporting KC come in off a last-place finish in the Western Conference, finishing with just seven wins, 28 points and a minus-24 goal differential.
Longtime coach Peter Vermes, who guided SKC to an MLS Cup title in 2013, was replaced by Raphael Wicky, who coached Swiss Super League team BSC Young Boys to the Swiss Super League title in 2022-23. Wicky, who earned 75 caps for the Swiss national team as a midfielder and played in the 2006 World Cup, coached the Chicago Fire in 2020-21 and was fired after failing to make the playoffs during his two-season tenure.
Wicky said he will stress ball control and pressing while rebuilding SKC.
“I like to have the ball rather than not have the ball, but if we don’t have the ball, I like teams to be aggressive, to be comfortable to play with,” Wicky said.
Sporting KC, which dealt longtime striker Daniel Salloi to Toronto FC earlier this week, defeated Austin FC 2-0 in their final preseason match.
“I think we’re on a good track to instill the DNA (of) who we want to be,” Wicky said.
–Field Level Media
