Affonso Ready to Take Over Earthquakes - tarantism's Dynasty

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Affonso Ready to Take Over Earthquakes

Posted on November 3, 2014 at 06:19 PM.

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The San Jose Earthquakes announced this morning that they have hired Portland Timbers assistant coach Joshua Affonso as their Manager entering the 2015 season. San Jose, who are entering their 8th consecutive season in the first division of American Football, decided to make a change following 2014 season that saw them finish second to last in the league table with just 30 points (6-16-12). The team issued a statement upon the conclusion of the season that former manager Mark Watson would not be retained after just two seasons with the club.

Watson, who was a former member of the Canadian National Football team during his playing career, took over as the manager of the Earthquakes on an interim basis during the 2012 campaign . Watson was 11-5-3 during his 19 league games as head coach, nearly rallying the Earthquakes to an MLS Cup Playoff berth. His mark 1.89 points per game was tops among all coaches after he took over. Prior to becoming the club�s interim head coach in June, Watson served as an assistant coach to Frank Yallop starting in 2010.[3] He began his coaching career in 2004 with the Canadian national team system where he held assistant positions with the U-20 and senior squads.

Affonso takes over a squad that has lacked identity, and a team that struggled to come together during the latter half of the 2014 season prior to Watson's dismissal. "When I look at this squad, I see a team that has enough talent to compete in this league" said Affonso during his introductory press conference, "I will sit down with my staff and Jon [Doyle] to figure out how to best utilize that talent".

According to Affonso, the first priority will be to enter the winter transfer window with a clear plan of attack. "I would like to see first how to best deploy the players that we do have before we turn out attention to supplementing the talent that is already present on this roster" said the first year manager, "I feel that if we correctly deploy our most talented players on the pitch and put them in a position to succeed from the opening, in addition to adding some talent during the transfer window, then we can move into the midst that we are team that will compete for the MLS Cup next season".

Affonso, a Bay Area native, has not had any experience managing in the higher leagues of American soccer on a lead basis, but has spent the last two seasons working under celebrated Portland Timbers and US Soccer manager Caleb Porter as an assistant. "Though he is not the most experienced manager, we feel that Mr. Affonso has the ability to grow with us as a manager and lead us to unprecedented success" said GM Jon Doyle in a statement Monday, "Joshua has the combination of fundamental ideas and forward thinking suggests that we were looking for to turn the path of this club around".