Earthquakes seeing positives with lowly Sporting KC up next

It's been more than a decade of little success on the pitch for the San Jose Earthquakes, but the team is showing a pulse in 2023.

San Jose (3-2-2, 11 points) is in sixth place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference, with three wins and a draw in the club's first four games at home. That's the team's longest unbeaten run to start a season since the Earthquakes went six games without losing at home (3-0-3) to open the 2017 season.

Sporting Kansas City comes to San Jose on Saturday as one of two winless teams in the league at 0-4-3 (3 points).

Despite its improvement, San Jose is in the news for an incident that took place in its match against the New York Red Bulls in New Jersey last Saturday. Red Bulls forward Dante Vanzeir was found to have used racist language during the game, and the Earthquakes responded with comments following the game. One of the most vocal was forward Jeremy Ebobisse, who condemned the action and supported a thorough investigation.

"I have to be really proud of our players to be together in solidarity, to talk, to decide and to obviously not accept what they heard," San Jose head coach Luchi Gonzalez said.

MLS suspended Vanzeir for six games on Thursday. The ban applies to MLS games, but during the duration of the suspension Vanzeir, who apologized on Tuesday and stepped away from the team, is also prohibited from appearing in U.S. Open Cup games, MLS Next Pro games and exhibition games.

The league also handed Vanzeir an unspecified fine and stated that it would "require Vanzeir to participate in additional league-mandated training and education sessions, as well as a restorative practices program."

Two Earthquakes players have been called into the U.S. national team to face Mexico in a friendly on April 19, but it isn't clear if forward Cade Cowell and midfielder Jackson Yueill will play Saturday.

For Sporting Kansas City, zero wins through seven matches to open a season is rare. It's only the second time that's happened in club history, back in 1999 when the franchise was known as the Kansas City Wizards.

"No matter how I phrase it, what I'm going to say can easily be viewed as an excuse, but I'm not using it as an excuse; I know what the reality is in my world," head coach Peter Vermes told the Kansas City Star. "The facts are (that) since the start of last season, we just haven't had access to our entire roster. And that has created inconsistency, and that inconsistency has led to poor results."