With Gonzalez, San Jose may finally be thinking long-term
Luchi Gonzalez is coming back to MLS.
The U.S. men’s national team assistant coach will take over as the head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes once the 2022 World Cup comes to an end. Interim head coach Alex Covelo and his staff will remain in place for the rest of the MLS season.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity with one of the league’s founding clubs,” said Gonzalez in a team press release announcing the hire. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with the club’s leadership team throughout the interview process and was impressed by their vision for the future, both on and off the field.”
“Chris Leitch and his team have put together a solid foundation of players and I’m looking forward to working with them. As excited as I am for this opportunity, I’m going to remain focused on helping the U.S. National Team be as successful as possible through the FIFA World Cup and I will be ready to give everything for San Jose once that journey is over.”
San Jose has been under interim leadership since mid-April, when former Argentina national team midfielder Matias Almeyda was let go after the Quakes began the season on a seven-game winless run. Under Covelo—who was moved up from the club’s MLS Next Pro side—San Jose improved, going 5W-4D-3L in their first dozen games. However, a recent six-game winless run has brought them back into the race for the Wooden Spoon, as they have 24 points with nine games to play.
“Luchi has all of the attributes that we sought in our next head coach,” said San Jose GM Chris Leitch. “He has had success coaching in Major League Soccer with playoff appearances in his first two seasons and has a very strong track record in youth development. His strengths and desires align with our short and long-term goals as a club, and we look forward to him taking the reins after the World Cup.”
Previously, Gonzalez moved from enormous success with the FC Dallas academy—arguably the most productive youth program in MLS—to the head coaching job in Frisco. Gonzalez took Dallas to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020, but was dismissed in September 2021 after winning just six of 26 matches.
Gregg Berhalter hired Gonzalez as a USMNT assistant just three months later, where he helped the team work its way through the Octagonal to qualify for the World Cup.
What can Quakes fans expect?
Gonzalez’s teams in Dallas preferred to build out of the back and, without the ball, relied on an aggressive counter-press to win it back. There aren’t major differences between how Gonzalez’s sides played and how Berhalter’s USMNT does, which makes sense given how quickly the former joined the latter’s coaching staff once he became available in 2021.
Gonzalez’s approach is certainly a departure from Almeyda’s all-or-nothing man-marking system, which contributed to the Quakes being a must-watch team for good and bad reasons. A 4-3-3 formation is likely the first choice, though Gonzalez showed during his time in Dallas that he’s not particularly dogmatic on that front.
Hiring Gonzalez is also the kind of move you make when your club is ready to start fielding young players on a regular basis. The Quakes have not been that kind of team in 2022, with only three players under the age of 23 (Cade Cowell, Benjamin Kikanovic, and Marcos López) getting more than 118 minutes of playing time.
López has already moved on, being sold to Feyenoord in the summer window, but San Jose may be ready for a longer-term youth movement. They had 11 players called up for various USYNT squads this spring, and their MLS Next Pro side’s first season has been reasonably successful, with only six teams doing better than the 31 points that Earthquakes II have managed this season.
Gonzalez also has reason to feel like his FC Dallas departure came a bit too soon, with the club’s problems at the time relating more to repeatedly missing on big-money signings while also losing high-end youngsters to European transfers. Dallas didn’t improve, either, winning just one game in their final eight.
For San Jose, a long-term direction would be welcome. The Quakes have arguably been MLS’s most aimless club in recent years, making the playoffs just twice in the last decade, and have not won a postseason game since November 4, 2012.
In other words, Gonzalez is taking on a big challenge, but the stage is also clear for him to try to build the club into something formidable for the first time in years.
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