San Jose Earthquakes' Cristian Espinoza (10) exits the game while walking alongside interim head coach Ian Russell during the second half at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, Calif., on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
ST. LOUIS — The San Jose Earthquakes are the worst team in Major League Soccer, and it’s really not even close.
Facing a St. Louis City team that hadn’t won a game in almost two months and had given up 20 goals in its last nine matches, the visiting Earthquakes were shut out 2-0 on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to seven games.
San Jose’s next game is Sunday at home against Chicago.
Hosei Kijima scored his first goal in MLS, Eduard Löwen also scored a goal for St. Louis, which snapped a nine-game winless skid.
Löwen, on the left side, slipped a shot between a pair of defenders, past the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Will Yarbrough, and into the net to give St. Louis (4-7-10) a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
Kijima scored on a volley off a set piece to make it 2-0 in the 41st. Indiana Vassilev lofted a perfectly placed free kick over a line of defenders to a charging Kijima for the tap-in finish.
On Monday, St. Louis fired head coach Bradley Carnell and replaced him with technical director John Hackworth on an interim basis.
But in San Jose, a coaching change has done little to reverse the team’s fortunes.
With a 3-14-2 record, the Earthquakes sacked Luchi Gonzalez on June 24. At the time, San Jose was on a seven-match winless streak, and its 51 goals against and negative-22 goal differential were league-worst.
Assistant Ian Russell took over head coaching duties from Gonzalez on an interim basis, but in his first game on June 29, San Jose was hammered 3-0 by the Los Angeles Galaxy.
San Jose (3-16-2) is now winless — with just one tie — in 10 straight, and its 11 points are the fewest in MLS. Kansas City has 17 points and is in 13th place in the Western Conference.
Yarbrough finished with six saves for the Earthquakes.
Roman Bürki, who stopped one shot, had his sixth shutout of the season for St. Louis.
St. Louis had 57% possession and outshot San Jose 23-7, 8-1 on target.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Originally published at Curtis Pashelka