A Dream's End - Bay Area Sports Nation

To kick off the season, the Earthquakes gave away Hernán López bobbleheads to celebrate the Argentine’s status as a cornerstone. Having been one of the team’s most significant transfers in club history, he seemed to be the piece around which the team would be built.

Now, with López on his way out, the Quakes move on from a chapter that started promisingly but ended quietly.

López arrived in San Jose with the fanfare that showed that the front office believed he would be their future. Injuries and inconsistencies meant that by this summer, López became dispensable to Arena.

An electrifying debut promised to be the opener to what would have been a great career in the Bay. Clearly, Leitch and his team brought the mercurial talent in to be an elevated version of Espinoza. The piece around which a project revolves is a talent that pushes the team to new heights.

Last year’s disastrous season clouded a promising start for the Argentine. However, under both Luchi and Russell, the midfielder played well and fit into their systems. Arena clearly prefers to feature MLS players heavily in his teams, leaving López on the outside.

López was the right player at the wrong time.

Injuries combined with the changing of projects meant that he would always have an impossible hill to climb.

Announced during the brief window of hope that the start of last season brought, López’s signing felt like a gift. Another talented Argentine joined an attack built around the team’s star.

His first few games showed a creative hub who could pull the strings from below a striker. A player who thrived on the counter, when he had the space to push the team ahead. In an offense without any true star, barring Espinoza, he shone.

Especially in the offenses under both Luchi and Russell, the Argentine proved to be quite a goal threat. Crashing into the box to finish off the chances created either by him or Espinoza, but with only two assists, he never truly fit into the squad. Yes, López finished the season as one of the team’s top scorers, but it felt underwhelming.

Despite clubs trying to bring in the talented midfielder, López started the season in the Bay. Fas and the team hoped that this season would be a success.

While the Quakes find themselves in the midst of a playoff race, a shoulder injury took out López for the majority of the season. As the team continued to climb the standings, the Quakes’ marquee signing watched from the sidelines. Arena’s system transformed a dead side into a competent one that scored at will, all without López.

Upon returning to the squad, the team’s success made it clear that his future was not in the Bay. Not even finding his way to the bench, months went by without an appearance. His poor stats at the start of the season proved that he was not the player who the team needed in the moment.

By this summer, there seemed to be no path back to the starting lineup for López. All that excitement that he brought to the Bay last year disappeared with his retreat to the sidelines.

Joining a side careening to the bottom of the table, López became the light in an ever-growing tunnel.

However, by the following summer, Arena’s transformation of the Quakes never included the Argentine.

Both Luchi and Russell used formations that featured a number ten through which the offense flowed. Without a truly lethal striker, López felt the freedom to constantly be on the ball. Either setting up his teammates or getting shots off on goal.

Unlike Espinoza, whose play relies on creating for others from the wing, López’s freer role allowed him to boost his stats. Essentially being able to stat-pad on a bad team, it became tough to truly evaluate the Argentine. The team had nowhere to go, meaning that López never showed what he could do as a contributor to a playoff side.

If Arena decided to give him a full run this season, perhaps it would be easier to evaluate López’s full potential. His system lacked a spot for the Argentine, and as the team got better, his chances to play got worse.

Utilizing a system that opted for chance creation to come from the wings, López lacked a spot. In the earlier part of the season, Arena tried to play him on the left, but he was ineffective. Under the duo of Arango and Martínez, López failed to be impactful under strikers who could create their own chances.

As the season got tighter for the Quakes, Arena leaned more and more into an MLS-tested side. Needing results every week to stay alive in the playoff race, the margin for error shrank. This meant playing time for younger players and those without adequate MLS experience; López fell victim to this.

López’s time in the Bay swung between personal highs and lows, as the team’s success flowed in an opposite manner. Arriving as a promising player looking to lift this squad up, he leaves San Jose as a what-if.