The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Squad9 Jan 2034
Kevin Kelsy 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.
Andrew Howard 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Jose Earthquakes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. DeJuan Jones 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout23 May 2033
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
James Weah 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.
0‑7 against Seattle Sounders, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 15 and 0 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Kelsy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑7, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Squad28 Mar 2033
DeJuan Jones 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Seattle Sounders have kept their man, and San Jose Earthquakes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
A loan enquiry to Philadelphia Union: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
He is 21 and he is exactly the player he was at the turn of the year. That is fine at twenty-eight and it is the beginning of a difficult conversation at his age.
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.
Vancouver Whitecaps next, and one man in the San Jose Earthquakes dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Chris Lema’s negotiating for him
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Jose Earthquakes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at San Jose Earthquakes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Owen Ferreira is a San Jose Earthquakes player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad28 Feb 2033
Kevin Kelsy 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luca Pepi is living that version at San Jose Earthquakes, and it tends to show in the first month.
A loan enquiry to Philadelphia Union: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Kevin Kelsy 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.
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jose Arteaga and San Jose Earthquakes agree another 3 years.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” DeJuan Jones and San Jose Earthquakes agree another 2 years.
Luke Brennan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Kevin Kelsy 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and DeJuan Jones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Jose Earthquakes can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Kelsy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at San Jose Earthquakes who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Britton Fischer’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and San Jose Earthquakes needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Moore knocks on the manager's door
Position 13 and 15 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
A brace, and Kevin Kelsy takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kevin Kelsy provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Houston Dynamo paid $530.0K and San Jose Earthquakes took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Kelsy 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.