Steve Ralston will make his head coaching debut against a pair of former teammates on Wednesday night.
The San Jose Earthquakesannounced Monday that they parted ways with head coach Mikael Stahre, leaving Ralston in charge as interim head coach.
Ralston inherits a team that has just four wins in 28 matches this season and hosts the league's top side in 2018 Atlanta United on Wednesday (11 pm ET | UniMás, Twitter — Full TV & streaming info) with a pair of familiar faces lined up against him. Michael Parkhurst and Jeff Larentowicz both played alongside Ralston for the New England Revolution and will likely start for Atlanta.
“I’m happy for him,” Parkhurst toldDoug Roberson of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s unfortunate that it’s come under these circumstances and unfortunately he has to play us in his first game. But I hope he does well and hope he gets the job full time."
The Quakes are coming off a 5-1 home loss to Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night, which was ultimately the final straw for management to make a coaching change. Ralston will have little time to implement his vision on the team before lining them up against Atlanta.
Read the full story here.
