The 2005 San Jose Earthquakes season was the tenth season of the team's existence and last before their move to Houston to become the Houston Dynamo. The season also marked the franchise's first Supporters' Shield.
About
2004 was a disappointment after a strong finish to the 2003 season ending with a championship. Second year head coach Dominic Kinnear and assistant coach John Doyle hoped to return the Quakes back to the winning tradition in 2005. It was marked as the first year of the new generation for the Quakes after losing 9 key players in the off season from 2004-2005, and with the new roster expansion bringing in 18 players for the new season. The Earthquakes set a league record with an 18-4-10 record with 64 points on the year. They became the first MLS team to go undefeated at home during the regular season.
May 18, 2005 the Quakes would lose veteran and leader Troy Dayak to an injury that would force Dayak to announce his retirement at the end of the regular season. It made way for Danny Califf to step in and become one of the center back pairings in MLS history with Eddie Robinson. Veteran right back Craig Waibel was also lost to an injury in early June who was playing some of the best soccer of his career to a torn MCL and ACL. A trade was made with the Chicago Fire to bring in San Jose native Kelly Gray to challenge Chris Aloisi for the starting job. He eventually won and took it. Mark Chung was acquired when a rash of injures of happened when Ian Russell, Brad Davis, Brian Mullan spent time on the injury list in June and July.
Chung announced his retirement from the Earthquake after coming to the mid-season via trade with the Colorado Rapids and contributing heavily to the ultimate success with the team. He opted out of moving along with the team to Houston Dyanmo after the 2005 season.
As of August 18, 2009.[2]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
