   the san jose earthquakes are an american professional soccer team based in san jose, california, that participate in major league soccer (mls). the team is one of the ten charter members of mls which competed in the league's first season in 1996 (originally as the san jose clash) and took part in the first game in mls history, defeating d.c. united 1â0. following the conclusion of the 2005 mls season, the franchise was officially put on hiatus and the players, head coach dominic kinnear and some of his coaching staff were moved to houston, texas, where they became the houston dynamo. after a two-year absence, the earthquakes resumed play for the 2008 season.mls press release the earthquakes have won two mls cup titles, in 2001 and 2003, and two mls supporters' shields, in 2005 and 2012. in 2002, the team played in its first concacaf champions cup (now called the concacaf champions league), making it to the quarterfinals.{{cite web|url=http://www.sjearthquakes.com/history |title=hi
1995_establishments_in_California Association_football_clubs_established_in_1995 Phoenix_clubs_(association_football) San_Jose_Earthquakes Soccer_clubs_in_California Soccer_clubs_in_San_Jose,_California Sports_in_Santa_Clara,_California