Position 13 and 32 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Jose Earthquakes may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán López Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Jose Earthquakes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jaime Moreno to a room that had heard them before.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. San Jose Earthquakes told Gilberto Flores something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. San Jose Earthquakes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at San Jose Earthquakes can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Max Floriani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Jose Earthquakes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ian Harkes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at San Jose Earthquakes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Next up on the road: San Diego Football Club, position 7. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Atlanta United FC know it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atlanta United FC can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and D.J. Taylor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 4 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at San Jose Earthquakes until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $874.0K — a club that wants Blake Gillingham enough to be asked twice.
Everything agreed with Vancouver Whitecaps, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
San Jose Earthquakes offered $870.0K; Seattle Sounders said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at San Jose Earthquakes can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
SquadCristian Arango falls out with a teammate over standards
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Jack Elliott deal
Atlanta United FC asked and Houston Dynamo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Sporting Kansas City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Atlanta United FC have gone to San Jose Earthquakes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Max Floriani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. San Jose Earthquakes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at San Jose Earthquakes is running low.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron Long and San Jose Earthquakes agree another 2 years.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; San Jose Earthquakes are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vítor Costa wants continental football; whether San Jose Earthquakes can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Arango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every San Jose Earthquakes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atlanta United FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The chase for Kai Trewin ended with $3.4M changing hands and New York City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Colorado Rapids for Luke Brennan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with San Jose Earthquakes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to DC United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Atlanta United FC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CF Montreal have kept their man, and Atlanta United FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A 1‑0 win over Toronto FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Matías Galarza was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Jose Earthquakes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
San Jose Earthquakes asked and LA Galaxy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around San Jose Earthquakes are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Up for the corner, and Eduard Löwen delivers — 7.69
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Eduard Löwen scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Jose Earthquakes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduard Löwen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ousséni Bouda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. San Jose Earthquakes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ousséni Bouda falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Jose Earthquakes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timo Werner signs something — a contract at San Jose Earthquakes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ousséni Bouda has written the date down.