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Earthquakes bring in Harris from Rapids, Pierazzi from Ligue 1

Atiba Harris from Rapids website

By CAITLIN MURRAY

The San Jose Earthquakes are continuing their off-season rebuilding with two big midfield moves.

The Earthquakes have acquired Atiba Harris from the Colorado Rapids for midfielder Marvin Chavez and made the signing of French midfielder Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi official, the club announced Tuesday.

The trade with Colorado is a swap of midfielders where Chavez had fallen out of favor with the Quakes while Harris is coming off a solid first season for the Rapids. Chavez played just 15 games last year due to injury, suspensions and national team duty for Honduras, recording one assist all season. Harris had tallied five goals and one assist in 29 appearances.

“Atiba has been a successful player in this league for a number of years,” Earthquakes coach Mark Watson said in a statement. “We’ve always had our eyes on him and we’re happy to bring him to San Jose.”

Harris has 27 caps for the national team of Saint Kitts and Nevis, but has a permanent U.S. resident card and won’t count as an international player for the Quakes.

The signing of Pierazzi, 28, will be another boost to the midfield. Known as a defensive midfielder, he was part of the AC Ajaccio squad that moved up to France’s top division, Ligue 1, in 2010. AC Ajaccio is the only club Pierazzi has played with, having joined in 2006.

The signings will help fill the vacancy left by midfielder Rafael Baca, who joined Mexican club Cruz Azul last month.

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How is the Earthquakes roster shaping up for 2014? What will Harris and Pierazzi bring to the team? Are San Jose’s recent moves enough to improve performance?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. i´ll wait to see how things pan out as we get closer to the season………….but, watson´s moves sure look like yallop 2.0. hope i´m wrong. so far not inspired at all by the moves, well other than getting rid of baca (smart move & we need to get rid of one; lenhart or gordon). harris for chavez is a horrible move in my opinion, but word was that chavez and watson didn’t get along so not much could of been done in that aspect i guess. still waiting for the attacking mid the FO promised….but i’m not holding my breath on it.

    Reply
    • You can’t get rid of the bash brothers now. The addition of Atiba the Hun will give you a trio of players no one will want to play against. Sure, no one will want to play with them, or watch them, but you will have three players up front who can hack with the best of them.

      Reply
    • As a Quakes fan who’s only seen Harris play in like 4 games with unimpressive outings each time, this is not the feedback I was hoping for from Rapids fans. 🙁

      Chavez was probably our third best player in the 11-12 season. He and Dawkins were the big difference between then and last season. Without their pace, skill, and scoring threats, we had trouble advancing the ball in possession, and couldn’t drag the opposing defense wide to help and create good chances for Wondo and the Bash Bros from the flanks.

      Chavez was one of my favorites to watch. Wonder what happened with him in the locker room…

      Reply
  2. I hope this makes the Quakes better – seeing as how Chavez wasn’t utilized much anyway last season. I don’t know anything about the Ligue 1 signing.

    Apparently the Quakes will have a new kit and badge though – and a still unfinished stadium.

    D’oh*

    *and I am a season ticket holder.

    Reply
  3. I think these two players bring more certainty to the Earthquakes’ midfield. Baca has always been somewhat unpredictable whereas Martinez’ move gave the excellent Cato a good spot to develop.

    Reply
    • we didnt much have any choice- any team was always going to get the better of us in that trade, since that bridge was burned by whoever.

      I hope the team is still looking for an attacking player, but we may be depending on Pery Martinez in the middle against Toluca in the CCL opener.

      Oh boy- cant wait for Draft Day!

      Reply

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