Quakes News Hot Stove
There is more hot stove news from the Quakes and Roots end. First it was Josef Martinez who will not be returning and now captain Cristian Espinoza’s contract option was declined making him a free agent with Tom Bogert from the Athletic reporting the news.
Wondo: Hall of Famer
The greatest player from the Quakes second era (2008-present) has been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Chris Wondolowski has been inducted into the Class of 2026, with the ceremony to be held May 1 at Frisco, Texas where the Hall is located. His resume is enough to earn him the biggest honor in sport with two championships with Houston (2006-2007), and two regular season shields with San Jose (2005 and 2012). He is the all time goal scorer in MLS with 171 spanning a career which started in 2005 and concluded in 2021. He also has two Golden Boot awards from 2010 with 18 goals, and 2012 with a record breaking 27 tallies. That record has since been equaled by Bradley Wright-Phillips in 2014 with New York Red Bulls, and broken by Josef Martnez in 2018 with Atlanta with 31 goals. Carlos Vela of LAFC surpassed Martinez’s record and Wondo’s mark with 34 the following year. Since then Lionel Messi has scored 29 for Miami this past season. His domestic league play has earned him a spot with the US National Team with 35 caps and 11 goals with appearances in the Gold Cup and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Quakes and Roots Front Office Staff Changes
In the other Quakes hot stove news, Chris Leitch and the team mutually agree to part ways. Leitch has been part of the team for the part 17 years as player, coach and executive and his role now will be filled between Head Coach Bruce Arena, Head Scout Ian Russell, Head Sporting Strategist Vassili Cremanzidis and Technical Director John Wolyniec pending a possible replacement.
The Roots have their longest tenured official depart, with Jordan Ferrell parting ways with the team. He has served as assistant, head coach, and technical director during his tenure with the club and his departure signals a change in direction. Jon and pwbloom at The Blog have their takes on this story.
BREAKING: Oakland Roots part ways with Technical Director Jordan Ferrell
NWSL Final
The Final is set for PayPal Park with the Washington Spirit returning for the second straight year with their 2-0 win over Portland with Gift Monday and Croix Bethune providing the goals. Gotham FC scoring a late stoppage time goal from Jayden Shaw. Ann-Katrin Berger made a clutch save to preserve the win and eliminate the defending champions Orlando Pride. Each team will try to play for their second title in their history.
MLS Schedule Change
2026 will serve as the full final year where the league schedule is set from February/March to October. The format will be the same with two conferences and barring any further announcements the top nine making the playoffs with the eighth and ninth team in each meeting in a play-in match. MLS Cup 2026 will be set for December, and the schedule could be altered due to the upcoming World Cup from June 11 to July 19.
For 2027 the league will hold their season from February to May with a 14 game schedule and playoffs to determine the regular season Shield and MLS Cup champion and qualification for the 2027 qualification for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Canadian Championship, Leagues Cup, and Concacaf Champions Cup. The teams will break for the summer before starting the 2027-2028 season in July/August and concluding in April and the MLS Cup playoffs commencing in May. The league will take a break from mid-December to January 31 before resuming play and the schedule will be accommodated around that time to minimize weather namely for the northern located clubs.
The schedule will most likely switch to a single table with the 30 teams grouped into 6 playing in 5 divisions for scheduling purposes. While some home and home matches will be lost, each club will play the remaining five division teams in a home and home and the other 24 at least once with each of them rotating venues every other year. This quirk will allow teams to have a chance to play the respective stars of each team be home or away. For the Quakes they have only played Charlotte on the road last season and are yet to play Inter Miami on the road with that match cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Finally after the new schedule each team will have a chance to play the other at least once.
Finally
Congratulations to San Ramon FC for their 4-0 win over Napa in the NorCal Fall Cup championship in The League of Football Clubs.
Stay tuned here for more Bay Area soccer news and the latest off-season moves.
