SAN JOSE — The good news for the San Jose Earthquakes: no wooden spoon will be arriving at PayPal Park. The bad news: there still won’t be playoff soccer there, either.
Despite a spirited 2–1 Decision Day victory over Austin FC on Saturday night, San Jose’s season ended just below the Western Conference playoff line.
The Quakes entered the final weekend needing a win and plenty of help, losses by both Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas, plus a Colorado loss or draw against LAFC. Only part of that equation came through. The Rapids managed a 2–2 draw with LAFC, while FC Dallas edged Vancouver 2–1 and Real Salt Lake held off a late rally from St. Louis City to clinch the final playoff berth with a 2–2 draw.
Austin opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Owen Wolff’s deflected shot from distance found the back of the net. San Jose responded in the second half, sparked by veteran striker Josef Martínez, who equalized in the 75th minute. Just two minutes later, 19-year-old Niko Tsakiris delivered a curling free kick inside the near post for his first MLS goal, and briefly, a flicker of postseason hope for the Quakes.
“Given the result and everything, it’s bittersweet for the group,” Tsakiris said. “The group really showed who we are and who we’ve been. Obviously, we fell short of what we wanted, but you saw guys come on and make a difference. Everyone put in a shift tonight.”
San Jose, Colorado, and Real Salt Lake each finished the season with 41 points, but RSL edged the Earthquakes for the ninth and final playoff spot on the first tiebreaker, total wins.
“We blew too many games this year,” Earthquakes head coach Bruce Arena said, summing up his first full season in charge. “We wasted too many points and put ourselves in a position that made it difficult.”
After a promising start, injuries and defensive lapses plagued San Jose through the summer and into the final stretch. The Quakes entered Saturday with just two wins in their previous eight matches dating back to early August.
Still, head coach Bruce Arena pointed to measurable progress from last year’s last-place squad, which finished with a league-low six victories.
“From 2024, we basically doubled our wins,msix last year, 11 this year,” Arena said. “We had 21 points last year, 41 this year. We scored 60 goals compared to 41, and we conceded 63 instead of 78. So, you can see the progress. But I can count at least a half-dozen games where we should’ve walked away with a point, so we put ourselves in this position.”
Arena inherited a long-term rebuilding project when he took over in the winter, and while 2025 ends without a playoff berth, the foundation he’s building in San Jose appears noticeably stronger.
“We’re trying to build the organization into a winning organization,” Arena said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve improved the facilities, new training field, dining hall, team meeting room. We’re making progress, trying to catch up with the rest of the league.
Is it disappointing not making the playoffs? Sure. But in reality, we just weren’t good enough or consistent enough this year.”
The next phase of the rebuild will focus on bolstering the roster, and finding ways to do so within the club’s salary constraints.
“We’re not going to have the spend that a lot of other teams have,” Arena said. “We just have to improve the roster with the resources we have. We’re not positioned to win MLS Cup at the moment, but we can get better. I’ve got a good feel for what we need to do.”
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