SAN JOSE, Calif. ā The San Jose Earthquakes hired new coach Mikael Stahre to deliver wins. His sideline gig as a yogi might just come as a bonus.
Stahre wasnāt actually seen leading his new club in yoga stretches on Wednesday, but he talked up his tactical adaptability in his first meeting with Bay Area media since being officially hired just after Thanksgiving. The 42-year-old is known as a 4-3-3 adherent based on past work in his native Sweden, Greece and China, but mentioned three other possibilities in the space of one answer.
āIn the past, I used the 4-4-2 formation, but in my previous job in Hacken, weād start in a 4-5-1 formation and weād end up in some sort of 3-4-3,ā Stahre said. āSo formation-wise, Iām really flexible.ā
Given the Quakesā recent acquisitions, Stahre has the ability to go in a multitude of directions. Dutch striker Danny Hoesen, a permanent addition after a 2017 loan stint filled with promising glimpses, could offer a fulcrum up top. Designated PlayersMagnus Eriksson and Valeri āVakoā Qazaishvili have experience on the wing as well as more centrally. And club icon Chris Wondolowski, while serving most of the time as a second forward, has also popped up elsewhere during his near decade with the team.
San Jose utilized a wide range of styles in 2017, oscillating wildly from the pragmatic 4-4-2 of Dominic Kinnear to the freewheeling, three-at-the-back look of Chris Leitch after a midseason coaching change. Stahre will likely look to be somewhere in the middle, even if itās easier to say that than to put it successfully into practice: āYou have to defend and you have to attack and you must find a mix of that. For me, thatās quite easy, right?ā
Stahre made his move to MLS from Swedish side BK Hacken sound like an easy choice as well.
āItās a great chance for me, great opportunity, also a huge, huge challenge,ā Stahre said. āItās always a challenge to manage a new team, in a new country, with a new language and so on, but Iām super-excited. Iām confident to be a coach, but Iām also a little bit afraid ā in a positive way.ā
Stahre is expected to provide stability after a turbulent 2017, when the Quakes installed new faces as team president, general manager and coach (twice).
āHeās very organized,ā Wondolowski said. āI love his attitude, his energy about it, just everything about it so far.ā
The Quakes laughed their way through training Wednesday, offering an ovation to late-arriving winger Jahmir Hyka and plenty of chatter during variations of 5-v-2 drills.
āI think itās important to put a smile on the playersā faces,ā Stahre said. āTheyāll work hard in the preseason, for sure.ā
That work begins in earnest Saturday with an open training session at Avaya Stadium, then a pair of matches against Portland and Real Salt Lake in Tucson, Arizona. San Jose can use those games to stretch themselves.
āItās really important for me to be in the field with the players,ā Stahre said. āThen I can start to act, for real. ā¦ For me, itās like an empty paper. I watched a lot of games, now Iām here [as] the head coach. It will be really interesting to follow them in the preseason and Iām looking forward to being in charge.ā