The Earthquakes announced Monday they have formally parted ways with head coach Matias Almeyda, whose tenure ends with San Jose as the only team in the MLS that has yet to win a game this season.
The man tasked with turning the fortunes of the San Jose Earthquakes instead turned on the team, as ESPN reported Almeyda told players he was “done” with them following last week’s 4-3 loss to the Houston Dynamo.
Alex Covelo, who has served as head coach for Earthquakes II in MLS NEXT Pro, has been named the interim coach with the team promising to begin a search for Almedya’s replacement immediately. Covelo will bring a familiar face alongside him to the sidelines when he debuts on Tuesday night at PayPal Park in the U.S. Open Cup match against Bay Cities FC: MLS all-time leading scorer Chris Wondolowski will be an assistant coach.
The Earthquakes announced that Almeyda’s entire staff including assistants Omar Zarif, Carlos Roa, Daniel Vega, Guido Bonini, Fabio Alvarez, and Agustin Zalazar will also leave the club.
General manager Chris Leitch began his Monday afternoon press conference by thanking Almeyda and his staff for their efforts but noted that effort alone was not enough.
“As we know, this is a results-oriented business and we were not getting the results everyone wants,” Leitch said.
Former MLS All-Star Steve Ralston and Earthquakes II assistant Luciano Fusco also join Covelo’s staff. Leitch declined to say whether he expected Covelo and his group to stay in place for the rest of the season, which runs until October, though he did say he was more focused on making a good hire than a quick hire.
Almeyda was in the final year of a four-year contract, but neither he nor the Earthquakes appeared excited about the prospect of him continuing on as head coach.
The Argentine manager thanked the team and community on Twitter Monday afternoon:
“I would like to thank @SJEarthquakes for this time together, thanks to the fans, managers, employees and John Fisher for their trust, thanks to all the players for their dedication and thanks to @MLS for giving me this wonderful opportunity.”
As news of his exit burbled in recent days, Almeyda was linked to Liga MX club Chivas, where he managed before joining the Quakes, and the Chilean national team.
Leitch declined to specify how long the team had been discussing the prospect of replacing Almeyda, saying efforts to bring in players with more MLS experience were the main focus over the offseason. The signings of central midfielders Jamiro Monteiro and Jan Gregus and fullback Francisco Calvo have not resulted in wins to this point.
“I was really focused on trying to improve the quality of the roster to give Matias some different tools at his disposal with the hope that this year would be maybe different than years past,” Leitch said. “From both perspectives — Matias and the staff, as well as our club — we felt like those results weren’t coming.”
After former general manager Jesse Fioranelli found Almeyda in a search for a coach with international chops, it appears Leitch is looking within the league for his next manager.
“We’ll prioritize the MLS experience part of it,” he said. “We’re looking for a club-centric staff and head coach, those with a high tactical acumen and flexibility and someone that’s, you know, a leader, a good culture builder.”
That desired flexibility of playing style appears to be in contrast to Almeyda’s approach. His aggressive tactics helped him turn around two clubs in Argentina as well as Chivas, but they didn’t create a similar result for the Quakes.
Almeyda arrived in San Jose in October 2018 with the expectation that his reputation as an agent of change would help bring new energy to a downtrodden Earthquakes club. Instead, San Jose has remained one of the worst-performing clubs in MLS while Almeyda has publicly criticized the team for its unwillingness to spend to attract proven talent.
Despite having Wondolowski anchoring the team from 2009-21, the Quakes have finished higher than sixth in the Western Conference just once since the franchise returned to San Jose in 2008. The club did make the postseason in 2020 under Almedya, but only because MLS expanded the playoff field during the pandemic-shortened season.
Source: www.mercurynews.com