When the San Jose Earthquakes fired legendary coach Dominic Kinnear in June, the team was lingering at the red line in the Western Conference, holding out hope that they would be able to finish the regular season with a playoff run for the first time since 2012.
Six weeks — and six games — later, with new head coach Chris Leitch in charge, the story remains the same, but these Quakes are looking more prepared to make their dream of postseason qualification a reality. And Saturday’s complete 2-1 win over the visiting Columbus Crew SC at sold-out Avaya Stadium was indication that the team has what it takes to keep atop the red line over the last third of the season.