SAN JOSE >> Twenty-nine years ago to the day, the San Jose Clash made history, facing off against DC United in Major League Soccer’s first game at Spartan Stadium.

The Clash won that game 1-0 with an 87th-minute bending goal by Eric Wynalda. But no such theatrics were needed when the now-Earthquakes and United faced off Sunday afternoon in San Jose, marking the 30th year of MLS with a rematch of the league’s debut contest.

In front of 14,196 fans at PayPal Park, the Quakes celebrated three decades of the United States’ top soccer league with a 6-1 win over DC. The only high drama this time came when Josef Martinez, San Jose’s prized offseason acquisition, notched a hat trick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, putting a bow on a commanding victory.

When MLS started up on April 9, 1996, the league had 10 charter franchises and no soccer-specific stadiums. Today, if an MLS game is played away from a soccer ground, it’s usually moved to a bigger venue for a showcase match.

Earthquakes manager Bruce Arena was the DC United coach at that first game, and he remembers a very different MLS on the day it got off the ground.

“The field is a hell of a lot better than the one at Spartan Stadium,” Arena said. “No one was running into walls (today). I think the field was like 60 yards wide. It had a big crown on it.

“But that was the start to the league. In a lot of ways, we didn’t know any better. So that’s progress. You look at some of these stadiums and facilities in the league today, it’s fantastic. And I would imagine we’re going to continue to have some kind of expansion, probably to a smaller degree, and finally be settled into a plan as to how we move forward after the World Cup and all. But it’s been a real challenge.”

If the league is looking for showcases, it stumbled into a pretty good one on Sunday. Though the matchup was one-sided, it showed in several ways how far MLS has come.

Martinez, a Venezuelan international, has been one of MLS’ brightest stars and one of many who have chosen to devote their prime years to the league. Every player who scored in Sunday’s match — San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza (Argentina), Chicho Arango (Colombia), Amahl Pellegrino (Norway) and DC United’s Christian Benteke (Democratic Republic of the Congo) — was an international transplant.

“It’s amazing,” Martinez said. “Coming in 2017, 2018, today, it’s another league. The level — the teams come here to fight, to compete, and they bring important players in every day. Every game is a battle. But I’m so happy to be here in this league for a long time. I’m happy to be in San Jose, and we look forward to seeing the team keep going.”

Espinoza, San Jose’s captain, made individual history of his own in the 20th minute, converting a penalty kick to put the Earthquakes up 3-0. The goal was Espinoza’s 33rd in a San Jose uniform, bypassing U.S. soccer legend Landon Donovan, who won two MLS Cup championships with the Quakes, for fourth in franchise history.

“We knew that it was such an important game,” Espinoza said. “For us, the most important thing was to keep things the same way that they started — the win stays in San Jose. That was our mentality for today.”