When the San Jose Earthquakes and Sporting Kansas City compete at Avaya Stadium on Saturday night, the two teams will share the same field for 90 minutes. The history of the clubs, however, suggests they share much more than that.
The San Jose Clash and Kansas City Wiz began Major League Soccer play in the league’s inaugural season of 1996 as two of the original 10 clubs. Both teams reached the playoffs with 12 wins in their first season and were separated in the final regular season standings by just two points.
The Wiz became the Wizards after just one season in MLS and had a successful second year, with midfielder Preki claiming the MVP Award and leading the club to the best regular season record in the Western Conference. Kansas City and San Jose then both fell on hard times, finishing at the bottom of the conference in both 1998 and 1999. The Clash reverted to the name ‘Earthquakes’ after the ’99 season, returning to the moniker that the team used while competing in the North American Soccer League (1974-84) and Western Soccer Alliance (1985-88).
The 2000 season was a crucial turning point for both clubs. Kansas City finished 16-7-9 and won a bevvy of awards, including the Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup, MLS MVP (goalkeeper Tony Meola) and Defender of the Year (Peter Vermes). The Earthquakes did not fare as well, finishing dead last in the league with a 7-17-8 record. Despite the struggles, the cellar-dweller finish gave new life to the Quakes, who were allocated a young forward named Landon Donovan and acquired a veteran defender in Jeff Agoos.
The Earthquakes went worst to first in a single season, winning 13 regular season games and later claiming the club’s first MLS Cup with a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy at Crew Stadium in Columbus. San Jose then finished the 2002 season with the second best record in Major League Soccer (14-11-3).
In 2003, the Quakes claimed their second MLS Cup, defeating Kansas City in the Western Conference Finals 3-2. Preki would win his second league MVP Award for the Wizards that season.
The following year, the Wizards won their first U.S. Open Cup and tied with Columbus for the best regular season record, losing the Supporters’ Shield on a tiebreaker to the Ohio club. Kansas City then defeated San Jose in the Western Conference semifinals before falling to D.C. United in MLS Cup.
The Earthquakes claimed their first Supporters’ Shield in 2005 with a sparkling 18-4-10 record, the fewest losses in a single season in league history. The club had three of the MLS Best XI, including Goalkeeper of the Year Pat Onstad. San Jose moved to Houston at the conclusion of the season, only to resurface two years later.
Ahead of the 2011 season, the Wizards became Sporting Kansas City and opened Sporting Park, a new state-of-the-art soccer-specific facility. The team finished 2011 and 2012 with the best record in the Eastern Conference before bowing out to Dominic Kinnear’s Houston Dynamo in the playoffs both years. Sporting would win the 2012 U.S. Open Cup and added another in 2015. The Earthquakes, meanwhile, claimed their second Supporters’ Shield in 2012 and forward Chris Wondolowski lifted the team’s first-ever MVP Award after scoring 27 goals that season.
Much like Kansas City three years prior, the Earthquakes went through a major rebrand, overhauling the team’s logo to reflect the club’s history and tradition in 2014. The club then opened Avaya Stadium in 2015 to great fanfare, selling out each of the 28 MLS games played there to date.
The Quakes are led by head coach Dominic Kinnear, whose 12 wins against Sporting are tops among all active coaches. Kinnear is a former San Jose player and made 28 appearances for the Clash in 1997. Sporting’s head coach is Peter Vermes, the 2000 MLS Defender of the Year with Kansas City.
The two teams have long intertwined histories and will cross paths once again on Saturday night with serious playoff implications on the line. Tickets for the crucial Western Conference showdown are available here.
