One day after the San Jose Earthquakes and now-former head coach Matias Almeyda parted ways, the Quakes got their entirely new coaching staff started on a good foot.
San Jose opened their U.S. Open Cup run on Tuesday by cruising to a 5-0 win over Bay Cities FC, a third division professional team based in Redwood City, for a paid attendance of 8,058 at PayPal Park.
Interim head coach Alex Covelo, who had been coaching the Earthquakes’ academy team in the new MLS development league, heaped all the praise toward his players — the same players that Almeyda reportedly said he was “done” with two matches ago.
“I think the players did amazing. They interpreted very, very well,” Covelo said. “They could have won on their own. We have a very good group of players.”
Jack Skahan, who scored his first professional goal directly from a free kick in the 25th minute, said the game plan was “pretty different” under Covelo and the new coaching staff, which includes Earthquake legend Chris Wondolowski.
“There are some different things, structurally, especially when we attack, where we are positioned to stop counterattacks specifically,” Skahan said. “And you can see a lot of that with the opposite outside back coming into the middle to sit next to the six. And I thought we implemented it well.
“I think we really haven’t had any time to practice it and we really did well translating as a team and we have a lot to build on.”
16-year-old Niko Tsakiris, from Saratoga, scored his first professional goal in the 83rd minute. Signed in January as a homegrown player, Tsakiris had played twice as a substitute during MLS competition before getting his first start and playing the full 90 minutes on Tuesday. He was called Wednesday to the U.S. under-20 national team camp.
Ousseni Bouda, the Earthquakes’ top draft pick from the 2022 MLS SuperDraft out of Stanford, also tallied his first professional goal with the fifth and final score in the 88th minute. San Jose’s other first-round draft pick from the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, defender Oskar Agren, made his professional debut and played the entire match.
The Earthquakes, currently last in the MLS with three points through seven matches, return to league action at 7 p.m. on Saturday when they host the Seattle Sounders.
