After a two-year absence, the Earthquakes have returned to Major League Soccer, but Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News points out that the team never really left: the former Quakes just moved to Houston, where they won back-to-back MLS titles in their first two seasons.
Which means it will be an odd affair when the new Earthquakes play the old Earthquakes for the first time tomorrow in a friendly at little PAL Stadium in San Jose — a venue that Killion says, “makes the old Earthquakes’ inadequate stadium seem palatial by comparison.” Indeed, the 3,000 or so expected San Jose fans might have trouble knowing which team to root for, as the Houston Dynamo still very much revolves around the old Earthquakes pairing of Dwayne De Rosario and Brian Ching — not to mention the tactical acumen of former coach Dominic Kinnear.