Markus Kothner Announced as Real San Jose Head Coach

SAN JOSE – Markus Kothner, a native of Germany who played professionally in Europe and El Salvador, will be Real San Jose’s new head coach Saturday night when the team hosts East Bay FC Stompers. Current assistant coach Frank Quintero will stay on in the same capacity.

Real San Jose Soccer Club

Real San Jose, in the midst of a struggling season, hosts the Stompers at 7 p.m. at the PAL Stadium.

RSJ has been looking for a head coach since December and it is a complicated process, and I believe we found the perfect man for the job in Markus,” said Manager Nick Arellano. “We now have two coaches in place and will add a goalkeeper coach when we can.”

Kothner said he is looking forward to the challenge of turning around the team’s fortunes. The team has lost recently, but Kothner said there are talented players on the team, and he is looking forward to working with them.

“I want to be on a team that is competitive and on a team that takes it seriously,” Kothner said, adding he has helped to run recent team practices.

Kothner has played for the youth clubs of Roda Kerkrade of the Netherlands, Borussia Moenchengladbach of Germany. He later played for CD Municipal Limeno of El Salvador, Alemannia Aachen, and various other lower-tier teams.

Kothner, who now lives in Fremont, realizes he assumes the team’s helm with only four games left in the season. He said he believes in “heavy metal soccer,” which he describes as a possession game, in which his team pressures the opposition when it doesn’t have the ball.

“I don’t like to react,” Kothner said. “I like to be the team that has the ball.”

Kothner added he hopes he can help the team win soon, something he thinks might help build confidence in his system.

“Once you have a success, you can say it really works,” he said. “It’s not just someone who talks.”

Eventually, Kothner said he hopes to coach a team that has a winner’s mentality and doesn’t care who the opposition is – like the famous German club, Bayern Munich.

On a practical level, Kothner said he would like to help RSJ players achieve their soccer goals such as playing in college or beyond. He said the success of the RSJ alumni would help develop pride throughout the club.

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