San Jose Earthquakes v Atlanta United: Arena hopeful of instant impact from Werner

Bruce Arena is confident that Timo Werner will only improve the San Jose Earthquakes following their winning start to the 2026 MLS campaign last weekend.

Arena watched on as his team beat Sporting Kansas City 3-0 at PayPal Park, with Preston Judd’s 46th-minute strike coming either side of defender Daniel Munie’s brace.

But there was no place in the squad for recent arrival Werner, who joined the MLS outfit on a designated player contract that will keep him at the club until June 2028.

The Earthquakes are at home again as they face Atlanta United, and though Werner is still unavailable to Arena, the San Jose boss is excited about what impact he could have.

“Hopefully, he’s going to make our team better. We’ll continue to try to improve our roster,” Arena said.

“The reason we didn’t do much in the offseason was because we felt that this group of players that we have has great potential.

“In time, they’ll be very good players. I think you saw some of that tonight.”

Welcome to @PayPalPark Timo pic.twitter.com/fHKsIUCdee

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) February 26, 2026

Atlanta’s campaign, however, started with a whimper as they slipped to a late 2-0 defeat to FC Cincinnati, with Kevin Denkey and Nick Hagglund netting in the last 10 minutes.

It marked a losing return for Gerardo Martino on his second debut for the club, but there was one positive for Atlanta in the form of talented teenager Cooper Sanchez.

Sanchez became the youngest ever Atlanta player to start a season opener. At 17 years, 332 days old, he is the first ever 17-year-old to earn that distinction for the Five Stripes.

“We didn’t really know until towards the end of the week,” Sanchez said about the build up to his first MLS start. “But once we got ready for the game, I knew I was starting.

“I think my headspace was like that. I knew I was ready. I think after the game in Miami, I learned a lot from last year and want to keep building on that moving forward.

“I felt ready going into the game and just wanted to express myself and to show the world what kind of player that I am, and I think that I did that.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

SJ Earthquakes – Daniel Munie

Munie scored two of San Jose’s three goals in their opening-day win, becoming the first defender to score twice in a match for the club since Francisco Calvo in March 2022.

He is also the second Earthquakes defender to score twice in the club’s season opener, after Victor Bernardez in 2014.

Atlanta United – Tomas Jacob

Tomas Jacob won 11 of 13 duels and won three tackles for Atlanta in his MLS debut Saturday, one of three players to hit both marks on the opening weekend.

Indeed, he is the first player to win 11+ duels and 3+ tackles in his MLS debut since Nathan for San Jose in July 2021.

MATCH PREDICTION: SJ EARTHQUAKES WIN

Atlanta have won all four of their all-time meetings with San Jose, scoring multiple goals in all four victories. A team has recorded outright wins (excluding breakaway shootouts) in each of their first five regular-season meetings with an opponent just seven times in MLS history.

However, the Five Stripes have begun a season winless in their first two matches only once before, in 2019. Of teams that have been in MLS since at least 2020, Atlanta is one of two that recorded at least one win in their first two matches in all six seasons from 2020 to 2025.

San Jose, meanwhile, opened the 2025 season with a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake and beat Sporting Kansas City, 3-0, to start the 2026 campaign. The Earthquakes are the second team in MLS history to win their season opener by three or more goals in consecutive seasons, after Columbus Crew in 2013 and 2014.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

SJ Earthquakes – 47.7%

Draw – 26.1%

Atlanta United – 26.2%