San Jose Earthquakes’ Shipwreck Season

It’s tough to watch a team like San Jose go through what they're dealing with this season. It feels like they're drifting aimlessly, with no direction and little hope of bouncing back before they sink completely. With just 17 points from 27 matches, being the team with the most losses (20), and the worst defense in the league (63 goals conceded), it’s hard to see any light at the end of this tunnel. This isn’t just a rough patch—it's a full-blown disaster.

When you look at the cold, hard stats, you can feel the weight of the situation. Five wins. That’s all they’ve managed. Honestly, that’s embarrassing. And it’s not just the losses. It’s like the team isn’t even showing up half the time. Allowing 63 goals isn’t just a tactical or technical problem—it’s an outright structural failure. A mess that nobody seems to know how to clean up. San Jose has no defense, no midfield, and to make things worse, the attack has been AWOL too. Nothing is working, and that’s why they’re dead last in the Western Conference.

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But could this whole tragedy have been avoided? For years, the Earthquakes seemed content with comfortable mediocrity. Always floating in the middle—no real ambitions but not hitting rock bottom either. The problem is, somewhere along the way, mediocrity turned into incompetence. The team didn’t strengthen when they needed to, didn’t evolve their play to keep up with the fast-changing league, and honestly, it feels like they got stuck in time while the rest of the MLS raced ahead. It’s like they’re still playing a game from five years ago, while everyone else has moved on.

So, who’s to blame for this mess? The front office, for sure, takes a big chunk of the responsibility. Years of bad decisions, senseless signings, and lack of planning have led to this dumpster fire of a season. But you can’t just point fingers at the decision-makers off the field. There’s something fundamentally wrong with the players and coaching staff too. Where’s the fight? Where are those flashes of individual brilliance that can turn a game around? The players look demoralized, almost resigned to their impending failure. That’s just unacceptable.

The truth is, there’s no room for passivity. A team that gets used to losing is doomed to sink deeper and deeper until there’s nothing left. The Earthquakes' defense, once a fortress, is now like a slice of Swiss cheese, with holes that every opponent can glide through with ease. And when the defense fails, the attack isn’t stepping up to balance things out. Winning just five matches in 27 games? No coach or player can justify that. If this team has any hopes of turning things around—which, let’s be real, seems almost impossible right now—they’re going to need a total overhaul, from top to bottom.

San Jose needs a radical change. And fast. No half-measures, no trying to patch things up with duct tape. This isn’t a small leak; it’s a gaping hole that’s sinking the team quicker than they even realize. Maybe it’s time to start looking ahead, admitting past mistakes, and accepting that rebuilding from scratch is the only way forward.

And that rebuild has to start now. Otherwise, the Earthquakes will soon become that team nobody respects anymore, the one other squads look at and already mark as an easy win. And losing is bad enough—but being irrelevant is worse. A team that’s had its moments of glory can’t just fall into that pit without clawing their way out.

For now, the only thing that’s clear is that this season is pretty much done for. There are just a few games left, and with the way they’re playing, the chances of some miraculous recovery are slim to none. The real question now is, what are they gonna do to make sure 2024 isn’t just another year of shame?