San Jose Earthquakes captain Cristian Espinoza was added to the Major League Soccer All-Star roster on Tuesday, giving him his second career berth in the midseason festivities.
Espinoza is second in MLS in assists with 11 and has scored four goals for the Quakes, who have undergone a turnaround in manager Bruce Arena’s first year. Amid a sea of new faces brought in by Arena — including strikers Josef Martinez and Chicho Arango — Espinoza has thrived in the first half of the season.
The Quakes are eighth in the Western Conference with 28 points (7-8-7), in position for a playoff spot 22 games into the season. Espinoza, who has played 20 regular-season games, has been named to the league’s Team of the Matchday four times this season.
The Argentine attacking player was gashed in the leg by an opponent’s cleat a week ago in the Quakes’ U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal loss to Austin FC, and he missed last weekend’s regular-season loss to Minnesota United. It is unclear whether he will be available for the All-Star Game next Wednesday (6 p.m., Apple TV+).
Espinoza, 30, was named to the All-Star team by Austin coach Nico Estévez, who will lead the stars against Liga MX’s All-Stars in the showcase match at Austin’s Q2 Stadium.
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Also named to the team Tuesday by Estévez were midfielders Carles Gil (New England), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville) and Obed Vargas (Seattle), as well as forwards Marco Pašalić (Orlando) and Sam Surridge (Nashville).
The original roster — which includes Miami’s Lionel Messi and Sunnyvale native Diego Luna of Real Salt Lake — featured 12 players added by fan voting, 12 picked by Estévez and two by commissioner Don Garber.
Espinoza, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, joined the Quakes in 2019 on loan from Villarreal CF in Spain’s La Liga and has since racked up a club-record 82 assists. He became a designated player for San Jose shortly after the loan.