The San Jose Earthquakes held a media day at Earthquakes Stadium and plenty of news came out of that, big and small.
Among the highlights, Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda said that the entire roster is in contention to play Saturday in the season opener against Toronto FC, and that includes holding midfielder Judson, who has been out much of preseason with an unspecified ailment. In fact, Judson is back in training this week.
“With Judson he did have some things bothering him in the preseason so he wasn’t completely ready to come back this match to give him some minutes. Today he’s training together with his teammates, and now I think the rule is we give the team [the lineup] 75 minutes before the game starts. Up until that time, the players know they should all be ready to play — there’s no starters and there’s no one on the bench, for now,” Almeyda said through his translator.
"Regarding Judson, he did have some things bothering him this preseason. Today he's training evenly with his teammates." Almeyda stopped short of saying he would start against TFC, but this seems like the best news #Quakes74 fans could have gotten on their defensive midfielder. pic.twitter.com/L5QCuyuS7I
— JMoore Quakes (@JmooreQuakes) February 26, 2020
So nothing definitive, but sounds like Almeyda could have a full-strength squad or something close to it for Saturday.
More news for Thursday:
- Local broadcast info out: The Quakes unveiled their full local broadcast info Wednesday, and the English-language local TV broadcasts will remain on NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California for the 2020 season, with the announcing crew of Anthony Passarelli, Chris Dangerfield and Danielle Slaton. Three games will also be aired on Telemundo 48, while radio partners will remain KNBR 1050 (English) and 1370 KZSF (Spanish) for the season. Get the full details and schedule on the club website.
- Yueill, Marcinkowski get provisional call-up: Both Jackson Yueill and JT Marcinkowski were called up to the U.S. U-23 provisional roster for Concacaf Olympic qualifying next month. The duo are on the 50-man list, which will be winnowed down to 20 players for the qualifying tournament, with that roster due March 10. This means one or both players could go to the tournament, or not, although it seems quite likely Yueill will be going at the very least.
- How do Quakes rank in player ages? MLSsoccer.com has an informational story on the average and median ages of all of the rosters heading into the 2020 season. The Quakes are in the middle of the pack, with their average and median ages both hovering around 25 years old across the roster.
Today’s question: Who would you like to see in the lineup on Saturday against Toronto? Let’s chat about it in the comments below!