David Bingham opens up about breakup with Earthquakes

Goalkeeper David Bingham’s signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday encapsulated a year of upheaval for the Earthquakes.

The move underscores the cold business of professional sports where an East Bay star could land with the Quakes’ chief rival after seven years in San Jose.

Little has been the same since the club started to rebuild its soccer program through initiatives that began with the hiring of general manager Jesse Fioranelli a year ago.

Some former players have been caught in the turmoil, including Bingham, a Cal alumnus who spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about the ordeal of the previous season.

“This process didn’t just crop up in the middle of the season,” said Bingham, 28. “I’ve been dealing with this since last November when San Jose asked me to sign a long-term deal. It dragged on into the season. Then we were far apart I told them in the middle of the season I wasn’t going to re-sign. Some feelings got hurt and emotions took over instead of logic.”

His final appearance was a 2-1 victory Aug. 5 over the Columbus Crew. Bingham said coaches told him he would rest for the U.S. Open Cup semifinal game Aug. 9 at Kansas City in order to be ready for an MLS game at Houston three days later.

Instead, second-year goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell replaced him as the starter for the rest of the 2017 season.

“It’s not an easy situation when out of the blue when you go from No. 1 to not playing anymore,” said Bingham, a 2016 MLS All-Star. “At the time, I was No. 2 in shutouts in the league when I stopped playing. I thought we were doing similar to the last two years. We were neutral or minus-one goal differential so we were still in every ballgame and fighting for our lives at that time. And then your world gets flipped upside down.”

Quakes management did not address Bingham’s explanation about what happened last season. The team released an unattributed comment to this news organization: “We appreciate everything David did for us during his seven years with the club. We wish him nothing but continued success.”

The loss of Bingham appears to be part of the Quakes’ growing pains that have included major changes starting with the firing of coach Dominic Kinnear in midseason.

Technical director Chris Leitch was asked to step in though he had never been a head coach at any level. Now, San Jose will open training camp at the end of January with Sweden’s Mikael Stahre as the new coach.

Fioranelli also has signed two more Homegrown players and three others from the team’s second-division club affiliate in Reno. It’s part of a strategy to groom rising talent from within while adding young foreign players.

“We tried to do what teams do in preseason — change our identity,” Bingham said of the midseason reset in 2017. “A couple veteran guys said this is going to be as rough patch. They were right.

“You saw down the stretch run that everyone knew it wasn’t working and we had to go back to real Quakes soccer and try to lock down the back.”

The team did just enough to end a four-year playoff drought. But the Vancouver Whitecaps embarrassed San Jose 5-0 in a first-round playoff defeat to diminish the good feelings.

Whatever happens next in San Jose, Bingham won’t be part of it. He plans to move into an L.A.-area apartment by the end of the week to begin the adjustment to becoming the Galaxy’s starting goalkeeper.

“It’s time to get back to soccer and leave all the other stuff in the past,” he said.

Bingham will rejoin Kinnear, who is an assistant to Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid. Los Angeles acquired Bingham’s rights last month in a trade that included $100,000 in general allocation money and $100,000 in targeted allocation money. The Quakes could get another $50,000 if Bingham reaches certain milestones in the upcoming season that begins in March.

In seven seasons in San Jose, he had 27 shutouts and 288 saves in 95 starts while earning a 1.24 goals-against average. He started for 2½ years after backing up Jon Busch for his first four seasons.

“I know that letting me go to L.A. isn’t the most favorable thing to do but they stood by their word and they helped the deal go through and I am grateful for that,” Bingham said of the Quakes.

The goalkeeper hopes to resurrect his international career by becoming a top MLS goalkeeper in the coming years. He has made three appearances with the United States but has a lot of young competition in the national team pipeline.

“The first goal is to get to L.A. and fit in with the guys and have a hard team to break down this year,” he said. “If we are able to do that the national team stuff will follow. In order to get to the national team you’ve got to perform with the club team.”

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Bingham already is excited for the first California Clasico against the Earthquakes on June 30 at Stanford Stadium. His allegiance to San Jose players remains strong but the Quakes know the kind of competitor they will be facing: he’s going to want to win.

Bingham just hopes San Jose fans understand. He said playing in front of hometown supporters was something he dreamt about as a boy.

“I appreciate all their support that they had for me,” the keeper said. “It’s meant the world. This is maybe not goodbye but I’ll see you guys later.”

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Reports in Uruguay say Penarol has agreed to a loan deal that sends center back Yeferson Quintana, 21, to San Jose. The 6-foot-3 defender would add perhaps the final missing piece to the roster ahead of training camp. Argentine defender Andres Imperiali did not re-sign with the team leaving a vacuum in the central defense.

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