SAN JOSE — When Luchi Gonzalez got here right down to the foyer of the Signia by Hilton San Jose, the place he was about to about to be launched as the subsequent coach of the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday, he observed a gaggle of individuals within the foyer sporting t-shirts with the phrase “Win.”
At first, he thought they had been there to ship a message. He quickly discovered they had been attending an unrelated convention, however the message was becoming nonetheless.
“The ambition is to make the playoffs subsequent 12 months, plain and easy,” Gonzalez mentioned. “We should make the playoffs subsequent 12 months. That’s going to be our mentality, our goal.”
Gonzalez, an assistant with the U.S. Males’s Nationwide Group since December, will stick with the U.S. workforce by way of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which begins in late November, after which be a part of the Quakes for the beginning of subsequent season. San Jose’s remaining sport of this season is Oct. 9.
When the 42-year-old takes over in San Jose for the 2023 season, he'll lead a membership that, barring an enormous end this season, has made simply two playoff appearances and has no playoff wins since 2012.
This 12 months’s workforce is at present 5-11-9 and in thirteenth place out of 14 groups within the Western Convention, 9 factors from the playoff line. However Gonzalez mentioned the franchise isn’t as unhealthy because the file could point out.
“The notion of the place the membership is at present, it’s perhaps worse than what it's,” Gonzalez mentioned. “I believe there’s quite a lot of potential. The academy is rising, you might have younger gamers doing properly, you might have guys who're very harmful offensively. You've gotten an excellent core. Can we refine it, can we develop it? Completely. However I believe we've got an excellent start line and it’s going to be my job to show that.”
Interim coach Alex Covelo and his workers will proceed to steer the workforce over the ultimate 9 video games of the 2022 season. The Quakes are 5-7-6 underneath Covelo, who took over after coach Matias Almeyda was fired early in his fourth season after beginning 0-4-3.
Wednesday’s announcement was a full-circle second for the Miami native, who was chosen by the Quakes sixth general within the 2002 MLS SuperDraft and appeared in eight video games. After transient stints with the Colorado Rapids and groups in Sweden and Peru, Gonzalez took over as FC Dallas’s academy workforce in 2012 and was named head coach of the primary workforce in 2019.
Gonzalez led FC Dallas to playoff appearances in his first two seasons in cost, however the workforce struggled in 2021 and he was fired in September.
Gonzalez’s success growing gamers at FC Dallas during the last decade is an effective match for San Jose’s younger roster. However Quakes basic supervisor Chris Leitch mentioned that the membership’s goal was to win, and never simply to discover a coach who may also help gamers enhance.
Leitch mentioned that Gonzalez’s deep information of MLS might be a aggressive benefit, and that the workforce is predicted to play a fast-paced, ball-dominant type whereas nonetheless specializing in protection. The Quakes have allowed 53 objectives this season, 4 greater than every other workforce in MLS.
“If I’m sitting right here after 4 years and we haven’t received an MLS Cup or a Supporters Protect (for having the very best regular-season file) I’m going to be actually upset,” Gonzalez mentioned. “That’s the extent of ambition we would like for ourselves, for our membership, and for our followers.”
Gonzalez additionally mentioned he acquired assurances that the Quakes are prepared to place in further assets with the intention to make that objective a actuality. As a part of the hiring course of, Gonzalez and possession checked out what the highest groups in MLS are spending.
“What I can say is the membership is able to make investments greater than it ever has,” Gonzalez mentioned. “The membership is able to put collectively a workers with extra help than it ever has. That was vital to me even earlier than my private scenario. You’ll get extra particulars quickly, however that’s one thing that I’m certain might be extra clear within the coming months.”