“ We are progressing ”: The 29th anniversary, earthquakes, MLS presents their growth since the beginnings in 1996

San Jose – Twenty -nine years ago, the San Jose clash made the story, faced DC United in the first match of Major League Soccer in Spartan Stadium.

The clash won this 1-0 match with a flexion goal from the 87th minute by Eric Wynalda. But no such theatrical was necessary when the Terps of Now and United competed on Sunday afternoon in San Jose, marking the 30th year of MLS with a revenge match of the first competition of the League.

In front of 14,196 Fans of Paypal Park, the Quakes celebrated three decades of the best football league in the United States with a 6-1 victory against DC. The only drama raised this time came when Josef Martinez, the precious acquisition of the off-season of San Jose, marked a hat trick in the second minute of the second half, putting an arc on a dominant victory for earthquakes at home.

When MLS started on April 9, 1996, the league had ten charter franchises and no specific football stadium. Today, if a MLS game is played far from a football field, it is generally moved to a larger place for a showcase match.

The director of earthquakes, Bruce Arena, was DC United coach in this first game, and he remembers a very different MLS the day he took off.

“The area is much better than that of the Spartan stadium,” said Arena. “No one was running in the walls (today). I think the field was 60 meters wide. There was a large crown on it.

“It was the beginning of the league. In many ways, we didn’t know better. It is therefore progress. You look at some of these stages and installations of the league today, it’s fantastic. And I imagine that we will continue to have a kind of expansion, probably to a smaller degree, and finally be settled in a plan.”

If the league is looking for windows, it fell into a fairly good Sunday. Although the match was unilateral, he showed several ways how far MLS arrived.

Martinez, a Venezuelan international, was one of the brightest stars of MLS and one of the many people who chose to devote their first years to the League. Each player who scored in Sunday’s match – Cristian Espinoza de San Jose (Argentina), Chicko Arango (Colombia), Amahl Pellegrino (Norway) and Christian Benteke of DC United (Democratic Republic of Congo) – was an international transplant.

“It’s incredible,” said Martinez. “To come in 2017, 2018, today is another league. The level – the teams come here to fight, to compete, and they bring important players every day. Each match is a battle. But I am so happy to be here in this league for a long time. I am happy to be in San Jose, and we are impatient to see the team continue to continue.”

Espinoza, the captain of San Jose, made his own individual story in the 20th minute, converting a penalty kick to put earthquakes 3-0. The objective was the 33rd of Espinoza in San Jose uniform, bypassing the legend of American football Landon Donovan, who won two MLS Cup championships with the Quakes, for fourth in the history of the franchise.

During his days of play, Donovan was one of the rare marketable stars on which the MLS could fall back. Today, the League is the house of Lionel Messi, considered perhaps the best player of all time, and a galaxy of national and international superstars.

“We knew it was such an important game,” said Espinoza. “For us, the most important thing was to keep things in the same way that they started – victory remains in San Jose. It was our mentality for today.

“Since 2019, when I got here, the League has grown up a lot in so many things. The league brings many young talents. Young talents come in this league to take the next step, perhaps in Europe or elsewhere in the world. It is really important for us, making this do this instead of simply bringing stars of big stars at the end of their career.”

Twenty-nine years of MLS came. So what will the next 29 look like?

The man who was on the ground zero for his genesis provides even greater things.

“An NFL owner told me that he thought in 20 years that the MLS could exceed NFL,” said Arena. “I think it was more linked to a security problem than anything else, because of some of the problems they have had. Would I bet the house about it?

“But this is an indication that sport has been accepted in this country. Now everyone has joined sport. I think that (David) Beckham has helped him for sure.

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