The San Jose Earthquakes have long been known as a team that has built their First Team roster through methods other than their own youth system. Saturday night may prove that the winds of the organization are changing—and the team is immediately benefitting from it.
The team’s right flank on Saturday, which gave the Montreal Impact fits all game, was composed of midfielder Tommy Thompson and fullback Nick Lima. Thompson, 21, and Lima, 22, are the first two products of the promising Quakes Academy.
As a matter of fact, only the New England Revolution (Scott Caldwell – 90, Diego Fagundez – 90) got more minutes from their Homegrown Players on Opening Day than the Quakes’ 159 (Lima – 90; Thompson – 69).
Could this be a sign of things to come in San Jose? Quakes Academy products currently play for various youth national teams and top colleges all over the nation, including Wake Forest, Georgetown, Stanford, Cal and Syracuse. The club even recently held a signing day for academy standouts to ink their letters of intent at Avaya Stadium with general manager Jesse Fioranelli and technical director Chris Leitch in attendance.
The Earthquakes have infused money, time, energy and experience into the youth system with the plan to make it their competitive advantage. The extra investment, and rich local talent, makes the future of the team as bright as ever.
