Quakes shake up enthusiastic crowd by downing MetroStars
The change from then to now was palpable: Fans with blue hair, relentless drummers behind the north goal, Khodadad Azizi advocates decked out in Iranian colors.
There was a buzz seldom felt in Spartan Stadium the past few years.
Then was the past few years, devoid of playoffs and pizzazz. Now is a new era, perhaps, with a new name, a new coach and a new perspective.
Defender John Doyle strode forth to knock in the headers that claimed victory over the MetroStars in the Earthquakes’ home opener, after which he and his teammates burbled about their first win of the season and one of the biggest (20,824) and liveliest MLS crowds ever seen in San Jose.
“Basically, having your home crowd behind you lifted the guys,” said keeper Joe Cannon, who played a flawless match that included stoning Adolfo Valencia and turning away a laser from Lothar Matthaeus. “We kind of gave that extra effort.”
“A lot of guys were miserable previously,” said defender Ryan Tinsley, who arrived last season after stints in Kansas City and Chicago. “Now, guys feel like careers are back on track. It’s like a new life for John.”
As a lad, Doyle had traveled from the nearby city of Fremont to watch the NASL Quakes. They didn’t win all that much, but the Quakes had a fan club called the Aftershocks, a dance team called the Shakers and an identity many MLS teams can only dream of.
Those Quakes wore red. The 2000 Quakes wear blue. Those are not the only changes.
This is where MLS, swathed in hype and hope, began in 1996. More than 30,000 fans and a national TV audience watched The Prince of Petulance, Eric Wynalda, score a dramatic goal to liven up a dour 1-0 win over D.C. United.
And this is where, a year later, the MetroStars and Clash provided plentiful clues as to the paths they were to take. The 1997 season opened at Spartan with a grim 90 minutes barren of goals and a shootout won by San Jose and praised by MetroStars head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira as “exciting.”
Three bleak seasons for both teams ensued. Amid the bright lights of Manhattan, the dim bulbs in the MetroStars’ organization drew scathing criticism. Way out west in San Jose, things were not much better for a franchise expected to tap into a market starving since the NASL days.
The team missed the playoffs three straight years from 1997 to 1999, during which it changed coaches twice. Doyle is the only player remaining from the inaugural season.
Average attendance dropped from 17,232 in 1996 to 13,597 in 1997 and 13,653 in 1998. A proposed sale of the team to Alan Rothenberg fell apart, leaving the team’s future uncertain.
“I’ve always been a positive person,” said Doyle, “but the last few years have been pretty rough. A lot of the foreign allocations went wrong, we got rid of some experienced players we probably should have kept, and we had some bad luck with injuries.”
Aside from Doyle, the attack sputtered somewhat against the Metros, but a team that didn’t get a shutout until the 24th game of the 1999 season was savoring its second blanking in a row and a raucous crowd.
The home debut of Azizi brought out a few thousand fans. A lack of fitness dulled his display, although a masterful slice with the outside of the right foot that landed right at the feet of Richard Mulrooney drew applause.
“They came out with a lot of momentum,” said Cannon. “We weathered the storm, and then we rode our crowd. Home openers will do that for you.”
The Lothar Factor
Since the Kraft Sports Group took over the team’s operations in late 1998, the rate of change has quickened.
GM Lynne Meterparel took over in February 1999 at the tender age of 31, and those few employees remaining from the regime of predecessor Peter Bridgwater found their way elsewhere.
Wynalda left in a huff. Richard Gough bolted during a preseason trip to Mexico when he and Brian Quinn disagreed over his participation in a team trip to see the pyramids. “Saw them in 1986, and they haven’t changed that much,” said Gough, a Scottish international at the time.
Average attendance increased to 14,959, and the team compiled a winning record. But a shootout-swollen mark of 17-12 wasn’t enough to make the playoffs, so with three games left, the Krafts ù at the behest of Meterparel ù removed Quinn in favor of longtime Northern California resident Lothar Osiander.
“Lothar trusts the players,” said Salvadoran striker Ronald Cerritos, whose devoted following at Spartan sometimes numbers several thousand. “He tries to maintain the credibility of the players.”
Cerritos ran hot and cold under Quinn, who often showed the stresses of his first head coaching job at the top level. Osiander was once married to a Central American woman, and his fluency in Spanish is proving to be a great asset. He also has more than 20 years of experience as a head coach.
“For myself, the language is a factor,” said Cerritos. “He can communicate with us much better.”
Meterparel also spearheaded the name change, which was opposed by league commissioner Don Garber but supported by operator-investor Jonathan Kraft.
“I asked everybody to tell me their stories,” said Meterparel, who came to San Jose from the Revs. “What kept coming up was Earthquakes, Earthquakes, Earthquakes. When someone hits you over the head with enough bats, you think, æMaybe we should be doing something about this.'”
Some former Earthquakes were introduced at halftime to the fans, most of whom were far more aware of a two-goal lead than a roll call from the past.
The team’s major sponsor, as displayed on its jerseys, is Yahoo!, and 1,500 employees of Internet giant Cisco Systems attended the home opener. The Bridgwater clan scorned Silicon Valley.
Season-ticket sales are close to 4,000, a significant increase from the 1999 total of 3,400. According to Meterparel, Internet ticket orders “have gone up ten-fold.”
“We’re going to go back down in attendances before we go up,” said Meterparel. “We have a long way to go. This is one little step. It was great tonight, and I’m appreciative, but we have so much more to do.”
Changes will continue
There are more changes in store. The team is owed an allocation for the sale of Eddie Lewis to Fulham, and speculation surrounds the trade of that allocation to Los Angeles in exchange for Greg Vanney or Clint Mathis so the Galaxy can acquire Mexican star Luis Hernandez or Francisco Palencia.
MLS officials are also talking to Mexican clubs and players regarding a possible acquisition for San Jose, which drew its best crowds in 1996 with popular midfielder Missael Espinoza. A forgettable parade of pretenders followed, including Brazilian Zico, who had the hair but nothing else that resembled Hernandez.
Costa Rican midfielder Mauricio Solis, currently sidelined with a broken foot and not all that effective in 11 games last year, would likely have to be transferred outside the league to open up an allocation slot.
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney