In 2003, Joe Cannon chose not to renew his contract with the Earthquakes. Instead, the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year left his hometown club and decided to try his luck in Europe, signing with Racing Club de Lens in the French first division.
Despite his best efforts, however, Cannon was unable to break into the starting lineup and his stay abroad would ultimately last only half a year.
“That was very humbling,” Cannon admitted. “I was a bit older, 28, I think, at the time. They were looking for younger players… They were very clear with me that they were going to give the kid that was in their academy a shot at it. The first five games, he got shutouts, so there wasn’t really an opportunity to break in.”
Although frustrating, the experience was an educational one for Cannon and one that ultimately helped develop him as a player.
“On a day-to-day basis, that was the best team I’ve ever played with. They were [a team with] some incredibly gifted players… I think it really set the foundation for my 2004 year, just the training there. It made me a lot sharper and gave me a bit more appreciation for the game itself and for the game over in Europe.”
Cannon returned to MLS midway through the 2003 season, and although the Earthquakes still held his rights, Cannon was traded to the Colorado Rapids where he was thrown into yet another fight for a starting role.
“It was an interesting year coming into Denver and a situation where they actually had a goalie playing really well. Looking back on it, the organization might have been able to do things a little differently, but they did what they had to do.”
When the Rapids’ incumbent goalkeeper, Scott Garlick, was asked by The Denver Post about his thoughts on Cannon’s potential arrival, he famously answered, “I don’t care whether they bring in Joe Cannon or Jeff Bazooka or Jim Tommygun... I don't need anyone to push me. I know what I can do in this league.”
Never one to back down, Cannon responded in turn: “I don’t care if it’s Scott Garlick, Scott Salt or Scott Pepper, I'm very confident in my abilities. I can compete for the job anywhere, and may the best man win. It's going to be fun.”
Garlick kept the starting goalkeeper role through the 2003 season, but was unexpectedly dropped ahead of the playoffs. In his place, Cannon stepped into the lineup for the Rapids’ Western Conference Semi-Final series against Kansas City, whom they fell to by an aggregate score of 3-1. Kansas City’s Conference Final opponents—the Earthquakes—would go on to win the MLS Cup for a second time.
Asked if he laments not remaining with the Quakes and being a part of that 2003 championship-winning team, Cannon is steadfast in his answer.
“I don’t regret not being around,” reflected Cannon. “I think anytime you change just one ingredient, things might have been different. I was there in 2002 and we didn’t win [the Cup]. It was definitely difficult, because I was at the final, just to try to be a part of the group in the same way you are with a team. But I was really happy for the guys. I thought it was just a tremendous year and they did a great job of persevering through that season and even the final itself was a great job.”
Cannon remained Colorado’s starting keeper for 2004, recording the best season of his career. In addition to earning his second Goalkeeper of the Year Award, an MLS Best XI selection and both the Rapids’ MVP and Defensive Player of the Year Awards, Cannon was a finalist for the league’s MVP Award.
After two additional seasons with the Rapids, Cannon was reunited with Frank Yallop and Landon Donovan in Los Angeles when his former coach picked him up for the Galaxy in 2007. That, of course, was also the year of David Beckham’s arrival in LA.
“That will always be a year to remember, probably more off the field than on it, to be quite honest.”
Although Cannon wasn’t competing for a starting spot, playing for the Galaxy presented challenges of its own. Cannon was brought in to replace Kevin Hartman who had been a franchise icon for the Galaxy and fan-favorite.
“It was hard because I was coming in for a guy that had built a reputation and had been with that club for almost a decade and I don’t think that ever really sat well with the fans.”
If that wasn’t enough, the spotlight on the team from Beckham’s arrival also compounded matters.
“What does happen is that kind of pressure, it wears on a lot of people in the organization,” Cannon recounted. “I look back on it and I think I probably learned more from that year than any other year in terms of my own approach to a game, my own mentality [and] self-talk.”
That would be Cannon’s one and only season with the Galaxy. Five years after leaving his hometown club, San Jose’s prodigal son was about to return home again.
After a two-year hiatus, the Earthquakes returned to San Jose and MLS as an expansion franchise in 2008. Yallop parted ways with the Galaxy and returned to coach the Quakes, bringing Cannon along with him.
“I always wanted to end my career in San Jose and that was the thinking in coming here,” said Cannon. “It’s worked out, I think. I met who would me my future wife during my second stint back at home. I think [being back] helped me mentally get back to who I am.”
Being back home was also part of the reason why Cannon doesn’t regret missing out on the Quakes’ 2003 season.
“I feel very lucky that my path was the way it happened because a majority of those guys ended up going to Houston and a lot of them never got back to the Bay Area. You look at guys that really were the cornerstone of that last Earthquakes foundation and they’re living back in Houston now.”
Cannon remained with the Quakes through 2010 when he suffered a broken ankle that ended his season right before the club entered the MLS Cup playoffs. It would be his last time in a Quakes jersey, though not his last on the soccer pitch.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC acquired the goalkeeper during the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft and Cannon defied expectations by making a comeback from his injury and helping the club reach the playoffs in only its second season in MLS. Only then did Cannon finally hang up his cleats for good.
After retiring, Cannon returned home and has remained close to the Earthquakes organization. In 2014, he became a color analyst for the team’s radio broadcast and was recently named the head coach of the Earthquakes’ Premier Development League (PDL) affiliate, Burlingame Dragons FC. With his playing career now over, Cannon wants to help grow the sport in the region.
“I want to make a bigger impact for soccer in the Bay Area. As a player, you’re so focused on doing your job. You just want to do your job and don’t want to think about going out of your reach and trying to do too much.”
“But now that I’m not playing,” he continued, “I think it’s about inspiring the next generation of soccer stars. I think it’s about engaging our community to be involved with the Earthquakes. I think we’ve got a front office now that gets it, that really knows there’s a lot of work to be done, but it’s worth it for the community and they’re doing their best to do things right. I’m excited to be a part of that next process, this next generation or era of Earthquakes in Avaya and really trying to lay the framework and a foundation for success on and off the field for the organization for decades to come.”
On Saturday night, Cannon will be honored for a stellar career that had just about everything in it, except one thing.
“If I have any regrets, it’s not playing a game in Avaya,” Cannon joked. “Hopefully, they’ll have an old-timers game pretty soon and I can check that one off my bucket list.”
