San Jose Earthquakes holding playoff rally at San Pedro Square

San Jose Earthquakes are hosting a playoff rally tonight ahead of the first ever playoff home game at PayPal Park. The team is hoping to recapture some of that magic that filled up San Pedro Square during World Cup. For more, we're joined by Shea Salinas, former Earthquakes player, and now with the front office. Shea, it's so nice to talk to you. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having us. You know what? I have to. I know you're humble. You're not going to give yourself props. You're a legend, man, playing with this team for a long time. You played last. You had that home goal in 2022. So, you know, you must be excited to have, you know, to host Houston here at this first ever game. I mean, it might bring back some memories of you playing. Yeah, absolutely. Man, we didn't make the playoffs too many times when I was a Quakes player. 2012 was our most successful season, and that was the last time we had a home playoff game. But this team is very successful. They're exciting to watch. They make me miss the game quite a bit, and they had our first ever home playoff game. Did we lose them? I'm here. Can you hear me? That was my bad. Hey, listen, having been part of that 2012 The Shield campaign that I think a lot of people remember, Remember, so. so can you impart any of your experience to these young fellas out there who are going through this? I mean, you did it. You know what it's like. Have you talked to these guys? Yeah, I'm fortunate where I get to have lunch with the guys every now and then, and they're such a fun group. They're a humble, hardworking group. They remind me a lot of that 2012 team where we were just gritty, blue collar, fought for every inch on the field. You got Preston Judd scoring this goal here. He makes every defender's game a nightmare. He's just trying to fight everyone on the field. He's so fun to watch. He's trying to fight fans. And then we have two midfielders that are so good on the ball that are both from San Jose. We've got Nico and Bo LaRue, so two San Jose young kids in the midfield. And so I'm just telling them, man, just keep doing what you're doing. Work hard, make the lives of your opponent miserable, and let's win against Houston on November 24th. Hey, what's the secret sauce that Bruce Arenas has been doing? I mean, he engineered a 31-point turnaround. That's nothing insignificant, right? I don't know what happened, man, but do you have Bruce's ear as well? Does he talk to you? What's been going on? I get to play golf with Bruce every now and then, but we don't talk soccer. We just talk golf. But. But he's a five-time MLS Cup champion. He's done this before. I've played against all his LA Galaxy championship teams in the past and lost to most of them. But we're thankful that he's here with the Quakes now, and he's winning. And we want him to win a championship for us. So he builds relationships with the players. He knows how to get the best out of each guy, and hopefully he can keep doing that through his playoff run. Let's talk about San Pedro Square because just for the next few weeks, the Houston Dynamo are going to be public enemy number one. And we saw these crowds for World Cup down at San Pedro Square. And I'm wondering, Shea, if maybe some of that, you know, football, soccer kind of enthusiasm can kind of leak over for having the San Jose team in the playoffs. Yeah, man, this summer was incredible. Hopefully most of your watchers and you all got to come down to San Pedro Square. The energy, the vibes, the atmosphere was so much fun, and we want to bring that back. So actually tonight we have like a pep rally for the Quakes, for the playoff game. So tonight at San Pedro Square, we're going to be down there from 6 to 8. I think the rain's supposed to stop at 6. I heard your report say. So the rain's going to stop. We're going to have a DJ. We're going to give away prizes and raffle tickets and jerseys. And we're going to make that energy come back that we had this summer. Hey, man, it's an honor to talk to you. I remember you. I started paying attention to soccer right around 2012 because of my kids. We're born around that time. And so I remember how you played. You must have a lot of fond memories. Thank you for coming on KTVU with us. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Hopefully we can keep making memories. I'd love being a player. The playoff run would be incredible. So let's get it done. The legendary Shea Salinas. Thank you. Thank you for joining us, former Earthquakes player.