How Bruce Arena is Revitalizing the San Jose Earthquakes in 2025 | OneFootball

The San Jose Earthquakes are rolling. MLS legend Bruce Arena is back.

Whether it’s the newly signed Josef Mártinez and Chicho Arango or the 74-year-old head coach, the Earthquakes are off to one of their best-ever MLS starts in 2025, months after finishing last place in 2024.

On Saturday night, the Earthquakes knocked off Sporting Kansas City 2–1, despite playing with 10–men after Hernán Lopez took a red card in the 52nd minute. It’s their second win of the year after trouncing Real Salt Lake 4–0 on the opening weekend.

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Arango opened the scoring before Martinez, 31, scored his 117th MLS goal, tying Bradley Wright-Phillips at sixth on the all-time scoring list. The win marked just the third time in the Earthquakes’ 30-year MLS history that they’ve started with two victories.

It was a massive offseason for the Earthquakes. While things are still early, they are paying off.

It’s been a long time since the vibes have been good in San Jose,  but Arena’s team has brought a glimmer of hope, while Martinez's scoring record brings back flashes of Chris Wondolowski.

Although excellent with Atlanta United, CF Montréal and now San Jose, Martinez is still well off Wondolowski’s all-time MLS goalscoring record of 171 goals.

Still, 2025 seems like a good time to be an Earthquakes fan, especially given that the club has missed the playoffs 10 times since 2013.

Bruce Arena, Peter Vermes Evolving as MLS Legends

Peter Vermes has been on the touchline for Sporting Kansas City since 2009. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

But Saturday’s clash between two of the oldest MLS clubs also brought the coaching tenure into focus. As Arena shines in his first few weeks with the Earthquakes, his Sporting KC compatriote, Peter Vermes, might be nearing trouble.

Both coaches are among the best in MLS history, but as the league evolves, its coaches must, too. Arena, seemingly, has figured that out –– many former players say he was always a personal coach, and the game and its athletes have evolved around him.

While he’s had “his guys,” namely the five former New England Revolution players that came to San Jose this season, he’s adapted and figured out how to win as MLS has evolved as a competition.

Arena continues adding to his 264 all-time MLS regular season wins. Meanwhile, Vermes is struggling with the club he’s led since 2009.

Despite spending $4 million to add striker Dejan Joveljic from the LA Galaxy and a Designated Player midfielder in La Liga veteran Manu Garcia, the club hasn’t looked in step and haven’t been able to lock down control in midfield.

They’ve lost four times in four competitive matches and scored just three goals, allowing seven.

Despite an MLS Cup, three U.S. Open Cup titles, and his establishment as the longest-tenured MLS coach, Vermes might be on the rocks. In 2024, he posted an 8-7-19 record in the regular season, and even with the offseason retool, the situation doesn’t look much improved.

“I wouldn't say that we didn't have another gear. I just think that it was hard to break them down and we're just early on in the season. It’s a little difficult,” he said, looking dejected after the loss to San Jose on Saturday.

“At this point as a team, we just didn't find enough. It didn't help us having to make the changes that we had to. We're taking guys out because of yellow cards. I didn't want to put them under, but I thought there was a good rhythm within the group, but we couldn't take the risk.”

While there is still time for Vermes to pull SKC back into the thick of MLS, adaptation by choice has never been his skill set, and he often only rotates lineups due to suspension and injury. Yet, there may still be some hope as he figures out SKC’s newest era after parting ways with key veterans Johnny Russell and Tim Melia in the offseason.

But as Arena and the Earthquakes continue shaking their way up to the top of the MLS Western Conference standings, it leaves SKC fans thinking: Could we get some of that at The Cauldron, too?

One thing is sure, though: Vermes isn’t giving up––there’s nobody who wants the club to return to glory like he does.

“I'm not saying I'm a great coach; I'm not a bad coach. I'm somewhere in between there,” Vermes told MLS amid struggles in 2024. “I didn't all of a sudden turn up and forget how to coach in that period of time... What I would say is that having gone through it, I've learned so many valuable lessons.”