When the 2016 AT&T MLS All-Star Game kicks off on Thursday, June 28 at Avaya Stadium (7:30 pm ET, ESPN, UniMás, TSN), the world will bear witness as many of the top names in international soccer face off when the MLS All-Stars meet Premier League side Arsenal.
The 2015 opening of the venue, the shiny home of the San Jose Earthquakes, represented a high-water mark for soccer in the Bay Area. But unbeknownst to many followers of the beautiful game, the history of the pro game in San Jose stretches back much further — about four decades.
A sleepy city an hour’s drive south of San Francisco, San Jose in the early 1970s boasted roots in agriculture, not in soccer culture.