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Garber, Quakes react to Avaya Stadium opener

By on March 23, 2015

Emerging from the hangover of Avaya Stadium’s opener last night — the San Jose Earthquakes’ first training sessions since begins tomorrow — the realization dawns that the euphoria wasn’t a dream. Everybody, including MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear, and even visiting coach Frank Yallop after his Chicago Fire team was defeated, marveled at the stadium.

All love it for different reasons. Don Garber enjoyed the quality of the stadium on such a small budget. He enjoys the atmosphere, yes, but much more so the size. Garber said, “I think smaller stadia are better in all markets.” Avaya provides room for growth as well, with the potential to close the horseshoe-shaped arena and to enclose the stadium on top of the bare-bones, potentially connecting the club’s front offices with the stands.

“(The Quakes) built (the stadium) smart, they were very efficient in how they spent their money. Some of the design elements are best-in-class, so it was a happy day for everybody in Major League Soccer.” — MLS Commissioner Don Garber

The players enjoy the facilities, noting the wide contrast between those at the Quakes’s former Buck Shaw Stadium (Chris Wondoloski praised the “professional atmosphere, instead of a college stadium”); indeed, goalkeeper David Bingham played there both in college and with the Earthquakes.

“It’s (the difference between Buck Shaw and Avaya) night and day,” Bingham said. “I played in Buck Shaw when I was in college so when you are coming back and stepping into this facility, that is arguably one of the best in the league, we know that — and the fans definitely understand that now. I think it’s going to be really hard for teams to come here and take points from us.”

Bingham isn’t the only one who aims to make Avaya a fortress — Chris Wondoloski also touched on the Quakes’ new drive to protect the arena. “We want to protect this house because we take pride in it, because we believe that it is ours — the community’s and the fans.” Wondoloski also said the new stadium helped the Earthquakes maintain an attacking presence after going up by two goals early on against Chicago.

A theme has been made of furthering the Quakes’s home advantage. Clarence Goodson told Football Every Day: “The stadium exceeded (my expectations). It was fantastic; it was incredible to me how loud it was in there. It just seemed like the supporters section swept over the entire stadium. Everyone was very alive and that’s an atmosphere you want at home. It’s something that I think we certainly had (only) half of at Buck Shaw.”

The fans are right there with them; when we interviewed Quakes fanatic Phillip Luna, he also hoped the atmosphere thy created would edge on the players further. Goalkeeper David Bingham even remarked that it was hard to hear his own defenders such was the noise.

“It (the crowd) was really loud, especially on the (closed in) end. It’s hard to talk to the lines ahead of you, but even me talking to the back line was a bit difficult. It’s definitely gonna be a big home-field advantage for us.” — Quakes goalkeeper David Bingham

Ty Harden also said that scoring the first goal in front of the supporters was amazing: “It (the atmosphere) was awesome — it was just electric inside. After the goals, with all the fans going crazy and all the players right there in the box, it was sweet.”

Overall, the excitement was palpable: Kinnear used the adjectives “wonderful” “fantastic” to describe the stadium and atmosphere. Bingham said it was a day he will “always remember.” Even visiting coach Frank Yallop, and former Quakes coach admitted to getting goosebumps at the stadium.

Miscellaneous quotes:
Garber commented on MLS Miami, just after Howler Magazine published an article criticizing the commitment from the club’s owners to the project: “We’ve got to get focused there and make sure we can put a plan in place.”

Chicago Fire coach Frank Yallop: “As a unit we suffered from (set pieces), not just Sean (Johnson).”

Kinnear: “(Matias Perez) Garica delivers a great ball. I was really happy with him.”

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.