Matias Almeyda hints at possible San Jose Earthquakes exit
San Jose Earthquakes head coach Matias Almeyda hinted at a possible exit after admitting his contract expires in 10 months.
When speaking to reporters ahead of the 2022 MLS season home opener, Almeyda revealed his desire to stay with the project despite no news of a deal extension as of yet.
“This is the fourth year that I’m given the chance to coach at this club and this league, which I'm thankful for,” said the Argentine on the topic of his contract situation. “I have 10 months before I’m free, and obviously whenever this happens in football, there's always interest – there’s personal interest and there’s interest from other people.
“I live day by day, I can’t avoid that there's people that try to sign us as a coaching staff. I was very clear at the end of last season with both the owner and our GM, and I was very clear with them at the beginning of this season as well. But I live day to day, and I always try to give it my max.”
Almeyda first arrived to San Jose in 2018 following a stint with Liga MX club Chivas de Guadalajara. He led the Western Conference side to 44 points during his first year, missing out on MLS playoffs by a single victory.
The team has since seen a decline, concluding 2021 in 10th place on the Western Conference table with 41 points and a record of 10-11-13.
But despite a turbulent offseason, Almeyda insists “the project is unbelievable."
New general manager Chris Leitch took over and brought in Jan Gregus, Francisco Calvo and Jamiro Monteiro, in addition to several SuperDraft picks. But various of Almeyda’s more familiar players left with team legend Chris Wondolowski at the front foot of the departures.
“I’m not one to give excuses. Coaches always want more and more players, that’s something natural and those are the ambitions that we have. To me, when a coach is satisfied with what he has, it's because he’s comfortable and doesn’t want to leave his comfort zone. It’s always going to seem like there are too few players,” he said on the matter.
“Obviously if you compare it with teams like Toronto, we don't have such squads like they might. But we're going to try to compete with every club, and we will work as a team,” he added. “Gregus, Calvo, Monteiro – none of them are coming to be the saviors of San Jose. They're going to come contribute their grain of sand and all of us have to contribute our grain of sand so San Jose can be a competitive team.”
The team kicks off the 2022 MLS season on Saturday when hosting the New York Red Bulls at PayPal Park.