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Oswaldo Alanís arrived in San Jose the first week of February. The Earthquakes’ most celebrated 2020 signing, girded by a dozen years of professional experience in Mexico and Spain, braced for a new beginning in the United States, less than four weeks before the start of the Major League Soccer season.
The timing could hardly have been worse. Continue reading Between two countries: Mexicans in MLS contend with crisis back home
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It was August 2018, and Oswaldo Alanís sat stunned in the middle of Madrid, his career suddenly in shambles.
The Mexican defender had just been cut by Spanish club Getafe scarcely one month after signing a two-year contract, seemingly aborting his lifelong ambition of playing in Europe. Two months earlier, Alanís had been one of the last players left off Mexico’s national-team roster before the 2018 World Cup, the apparent end of another dream.
Uncertainty consumed Alanís. He didn’t know whether to go back to Mexico or stay in Spain. The stress was so bad that he developed a minor skin condition on his face and neck.
“It was a hard time,” he said. Continue reading Earthquakes’ Oswaldo Alanís, once stranded abroad, finds soccer home in San Jose
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Chris Wondolowski’s moment of clarity emerged last fall on the western edge of the Sierra Nevada.
Shortly removed from a grueling 2019 season, the Earthquakes’ forward was hiking with his wife and two daughters outside their cabin in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. It was a refreshing taste of life post-soccer as he wrestled with the prospect of retirement.
“I love this and I love my family,” Wondolowski thought, “but I want to go again.” Continue reading Earthquakes’ Chris Wondolowski begins what is likely his final season
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For decades, San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood was the stinkiest place in town.
Slaughterhouses and tanneries dumped raw sewage into the nearby bay. Prevailing winds wafted the stench of a coastal garbage dump into the rolling valley. And yes, cows roamed the land that would someday cradle the city’s glitziest shopping district. Lots of cows.
About 800 cows, in fact — so many that city officials decided to banish the area’s dairy farms in 1891. The malnourished cows, feeding on the sand hills’ sparse vegetation, were defecating in their drinking supply and producing milk ridden with E. coli.
“If someone were to start out and search California from end to end,” said health officer James W. Keeney in one 1900 account, “they could hardly find a more unsuitable place in which to keep cows than ‘Cow Hollow.’”
Hold that rancid iteration of Cow Hollow up against the current one — polished, chic, a whiff of elitism in the air — and the waves of change that have reshaped San Francisco over and over come crashing to your feet. These days, Cow Hollow factors into the highest-priced ZIP code in one of the world’s most expensive cities, a place dotted with Victorian mansions and wellness centers and Lululemon leggings.
But now the cows are coming home. Sort of.
Continue reading Shake Shack signals change in San Francisco
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Midnight approached, and the white van sat like a Trojan Horse. Three men in thick, black vests waited inside. The heavy June air of Northern Virginia was still, plucked gently by a chorus of crickets and the faint whir of cars drifting down a nearby highway. The men seemed hesitant to disturb the peace. Perhaps they knew they were being watched.
Among the wary onlookers was Kenec, a teenager observing from his family’s three-bedroom apartment on the second floor. He knew it was serious because he was not the only one watching. He looked at the building across the street and counted six windows like his — shuttered blinds cracked open slightly, lights off.
Kenec, 18, had heard of ICE agents visiting his neighborhood — a heavily Latino apartment complex in Annandale, about 15 miles outside Washington D.C. — but this was his first time seeing them. He watched them exit the van and stride toward the building across the street, about 80 yards away from his vantage point. A resident answered the door, and they spoke for a couple of minutes. Then Kenec’s mother chided him to get away from the window. Continue reading How Trump’s Rhetoric Exposed America’s Moral Hypocrisy
Realizó y traducido por Nick Eilerson
Una racha de suerte imprevista. Una afición revitalizada. Una dormida franquicia de repente en posición por los playoffs.
No, no hablamos de los Giants de San Francisco. El equipo profesional más caliente del Bay Area este verano ha sido el San Jose Earthquakes, un antiguo hazmerreír que solamente necesitaba unas semanas para transformarse en uno de los clubes más fuertes de Major League Soccer.
El Earthquakes ha perdido solo dos veces desde el 11 de mayo, reanimándose bajo el liderazgo de nuevo entrenador Matías Almeyda para establecerse como contendiente legítimo con menos de dos meses quedando en la temporada de 2019. La derrota por 2-1 del pasado fin de semana en Colorado cayó San Jose al cuarto lugar de la Conferencia Oeste, pero eso le deja firmemente en caza de los playoffs con un juego de carretera ante Sporting Kansas City esta noche de sábado.
El 3 de agosto, el Chronicle realizó una entrevista exclusiva con Earthquakes gerente general Jesse Fioranelli. Ahora en su tercer año con San Jose, el nativo de Suiza de 39 años está disfrutando del resurgimiento de su club después de sufrir una temporada desastrosa de 2018 en la cual el Earthquakes terminó en último lugar con un récord de 4-9-21, lo peor registro en la historia del club.
Esta entrevista, realizada en inglés, ha sido editada por su extensión y claridad. Continue reading Q&A: Earthquakes gerente general Jesse Fioranelli discute el rápido ascenso de San Jose
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An unforeseen hot steak. A reinvigorated fan base. A dormant franchise suddenly catapulted into playoff contention.
No, we’re not talking about the San Francisco Giants. The Bay Area’s hottest pro team this summer has been the San Jose Earthquakes, a former laughingstock that needed mere weeks to morph into one of the strongest clubs in Major League Soccer.
The Earthquakes have lost just twice since May 11, rallying behind first-year coach Matías Almeyda to establish themselves as legitimate contenders with less than two months left on the regular-season docket. Last weekend’s 2-1 defeat in Colorado dropped San Jose (11-8-5) to fourth place in the Western Conference, but that leaves them firmly in the playoff hunt with a road game against Sporting Kansas City on tap Saturday night.
On Aug. 3 the Chronicle conducted an exclusive interview with Earthquakes General Manager Jesse Fioranelli. Now in his third year with San Jose, the 39-year-old Switzerland native is enjoying his club’s resurgence after enduring a disastrous 2018 campaign that saw the Earthquakes finish in last place with a 4-21-9 record, the worst mark in franchise history.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Continue reading Q&A: Earthquakes GM Jesse Fioranelli discusses San Jose’s rapid rise
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Carlos Fierro glanced toward the field at Avaya Stadium and flashed a wry smile. The Mexican midfielder had just been asked about his reception from fans of the San Jose Earthquakes, the team that signed him June 25.
He didn’t hesitate.
“I’m really happy with how the fans welcomed me,” Fierro said in Spanish. “There are a lot of Mexicans here that embraced me, and some Americans, too.” Continue reading Revitalized San Jose Earthquakes ride MLS’ surging wave of Latin American talent
For much of Sunday’s friendly against South Africa at Levi’s Stadium, the U.S. women’s national team hardly looked like the defending World Cup champion. There were sloppy giveaways, poor touches and missed chances galore. It took the Americans 37 minutes to put a shot on frame.
The Americans’ cohesion did come into sharper focus with each passing minute, and they pulled out a 3-0 win. It was a positive result for their first game after coach Jill Ellis finalized the 23-member roster ahead of next month’s World Cup in France.
“The World Cup games, they don’t always start perfectly,” Ellis said. “It’s about the ability of a team to get better in a game and grow in a game.” Continue reading U.S. women’s soccer team overcomes slow start in World Cup tuneup
I didn’t feel a thing when Tiger made the final putt. No, really. My body was depleted, my mind a thick sludge slushing inside a steel crate in zero gravity. I got four hours’ sleep last night and woke up at 6:05 a.m. California time, because an unprecedented Masters schedule moved Sunday’s final round up several hours to avoid thunderstorms in central Georgia.
And because Tiger. Nostalgia. History. Destiny. Magic. It was possible that all of it could come together in one moment, an inconceivable array of disparate circumstances, emotions and characters converging into a sporting supernova that would transcend golf and reverberate around the world. It was possible.
Over the top? Yes. The way I felt? No! I was dog tired, man. That is until…
The release. The sweetest release ever witnessed on a golf course.
Nick Eilerson 