It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled will dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. This week, Bruce Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes made a telling change, San Diego FC exploded, goalkeepers had problems, and more.
Winner: Bruce Arena and the San Jose Earthquakes’ balance
San Jose’s defense was bad last season. Like, bad bad.
They allowed 78 total goals, good for more than any other team in MLS history, and 2.29 goals per game, good for the second-most in MLS history only behind the 2001 Tampa Bay Mutiny. Thanks to a gappy spine, bad defenders, and truly horrific goalkeeping, the Quakes leaked chances.
When Bruce Arena was hired over the offseason, it seemed like a sure thing that the defense would improve. Arena, with all of his coaching and front office experience, would find the right defensive personnel and instill the right principles into his team to help them rebound on the defensive end.
Except, uh, through the first 10 games of the season, San Jose’s defense was actually worse than it was in 2024 based on xG allowed. According to American Soccer Analysis, they’d gone from allowing 1.72 xG per game last year to 1.9 xG per game this year. That’s not quite the trendline Earthquakes fans were hoping to see during the first third of the new season.
