Editor's note: This article originally appeared on MLSsoccer.com on February 27, 2015 and has been tweaked to reflect San Jose's results to date. The original article can be found here.
Innocent, who now goes by his first name only, and the San Jose Earthquakes host Real Salt Lake this Sunday on national TV in their second game at the brand-new Avaya Stadium at 5 pm ET, on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Innocent paused a moment to ponder the question. Just how much had he known about the San Jose Earthquakes before the club reached out to gauge his interest in a cross-Atlantic move?
“Before?” he replied. “Honestly speaking, not much.”
That lack of familiarity didn’t keep the Quakes from pitching Innocent on an idea that would have been hard to believe even a year earlier: coming over in the prime of a career that had already taken him from Switzerland to France’s Ligue 1 and then to Italy’s Serie A.
And by the time Quakes general manager John Doyle was done making his case to the 25-year-old Swiss international, Innocent knew enough to take a chance.
“I flew to Zurich to get to meet him,” Doyle said. “I showed him everything about Major League Soccer, what the league’s about. And I just got a good feeling that he was a player that wanted to come to us, that it wasn’t about, ‘It’s the end of my career, one more payday.’ … He wants to come and work hard and be successful.”
The first domino to fall in the Quakes’ pursuit of Innocent actually had nothing to do with the club at all.
Italian side AC Siena, who signed Innocent in the summer of 2013 from French club FC Lorient after a successful loan spell, declared bankruptcy before the start of the 2014-15 European campaign. Innocent, who scored four goals and assisted on seven more on loan with AC Livorno during 2013-14, was suddenly a free agent. After initially joining Qarabag FK to chase the dream of playing in a UEFA club tournament – the Azerbaijani champions had qualified for pool play in the Europa League – Emeghara found himself unused in that competition and looking for a new home.
The Nigerian native, who moved to Switzerland as a teenager, came across the Quakes’ radar after league scouts asked San Jose what they were looking for in new coach Dominic Kinnear’s first season back at the helm. Item No. 1 was a void that has hurt the Quakes for years: a lack of dangerous, speedy options up front. And as the club’s coaching staff sifted through dozens of players angling to fill the Quakes’ final Designated Player slot, Innocent stood out.
“For him to come and pick San Jose and MLS over say, La Liga or a team in Germany, it’s a risk on his part,” Kinnear said. “I think he understands our ambitions as a club and the ambitions of the league. And I think he sees the growth of soccer in America and wants to be a part of it.”
The opening of the Quakes’ new home, Avaya Stadium, has bolstered those ambitions. Innocent said the $100-million facility played a significant factor in his choice – a sizable advantage in recruiting a player with his caliber resume as opposed to the prospect of toiling in antiquated Buck Shaw Stadium, San Jose’s former home. More importantly, new revenue streams from the arena allowed the club to increase its ability to acquire a third DP to join playmaker Matias Perez Garcia and club talisman Chris Wondolowski.
“Everybody worked hard to get this done,” Doyle said. “It just doesn’t happen as easy as it seems – you see the player, you like the player, you sign the player. A lot of things have to happen behind the scenes. And we were very fortunate this year that we were able to get ahead of it. That was made possible by Dave [Kaval, team president] and ownership giving us a nice budget to be able to go out and get the player that we had our sights set on.”
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The early indications on Innocent are largely positive. After a shoulder injury kept him to a cameo role in the Quakes' opener, he announced his presence with an AT&T Goal of the Week-winning effort against the Seattle Sounders that showcased his speed, skill and finishing ability – traits that, combined, bring the Earthquakes a skill set they have sorely lacked.
And despite being nine time zones away from Zurich, Innocent is satisfied that he can use San Jose as a springboard to get back into the Swiss national team mix after nearly two years without a cap.
“In Europe, they are paying more attention to MLS,” Innocent said. “I think if I play well, that will be no problem for the Swiss coach to call me into the national team. I believe the league is better than the Swiss league. I think I have the advantage if I’m playing well.”
