The San Jose Earthquakes might not have qualified for the playoffs in 2019, but they don’t believe the year was wasted.
Speaking to the media in the midst of their post-season fitness program, the squad projected confidence that they can build on this season’s progress in 2020.
And that confidence is partly why key assets Florian Jungwirth and Chris Wondolowski are staying in San Jose. After head coach Matias Almeyda committed to another season with the Quakes last week, Jungwirth and Wondolowski also signaled their intent to renew their contracts.
Despite concerns that he couldn’t “hang” in the league anymore, Wondolowski thrived in Almeyda’s system and posted another fifteen-goal season. Now, he’s too excited about the club’s future to call it quits.
“It’s just about ironed out, I do want to come back for one more [year],” said the forward. “That’s the plan right now.”
“I’m having so much fun, there’s so much joy. I talked to the family, I talked to the wife. I really, really just wanted one more year.”
That’s because Wondo believes the team’s progress this season built the foundation for a successful 2020.
“I think we took away many positives, just the foundation of how we wanted to build this team going forward,” he said. “We were able to answer a lot of questions. Even when we made the playoffs two or thee years ago we were still putting bubble gum and duct tape all over the ship. Now we finally know what we’re doing, we’re not having to bail ourselves out each year now. We can move forward.”
One of the pieces of that foundation is Jungwirth, who also promised that he’ll return next year.
“My contract is expiring, but I’m pretty sure that there will be an announcement soon,” he said. “I don’t want to say more about it, but for sure you will see the same Flo Jungwirth from 2019 in 2020.”
However, other players remain in limbo.
The club is working to keep attacking player of the year Cristian Espinoza, who revitalized his career in a season-long loan from Spanish side Villarreal, and they felt confident enough in his situation to make him available to media (which wasn’t the case for other out-of-contract players such as Shea Salinas and Judson).
“Hopefully I can stay, and if I do stay the objective is to double down on everything we did last year,” said the forward.
He, too, is optimistic about the club’s future.
“This year, we had a period in which we did really well,” he said. “If we do what we need to do next season, we can be first place without a problem.”
If he stays, that is. Others, including defender Guard Kashia, acknowledged Espinoza’s immense importance to the team.
“We need the players that are really important for us, like Espinoza or Judson,” said Kashia. “If we keep them it’s going to be a huge advantage for us next season.”
Kashia said the Quakes feel like “winners” now, and Espinoza’s return would clearly reinforce that conviction.
“We changed the mentality. The winning mentality is there now,” he said.
And with that mentality comes an expectation of greater success.
Said Kashia: “We didn’t qualify for the playoffs, but for next season it’s a must-go. There’s not going to be any more excuses.”
