The Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes will be meeting for the 71st time on Saturday at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
The history
The 71 games are combination of regular season and post season matches in Major League Soccer (MLS). This rivalry is also known as the California Clasico and the Galaxy has the advantage over the Northern California club. LA has a (W-D-L) 33-14-23 and a positive 30 goal differential. When Los Angeles is at home they have dominated San Jose with a 22-6-5 record. However, as of late the Galaxy has struggled to defeat the Quakes, they have gone 4-3-3.
The Quakes will be looking to get their sixth overall victory in Southern California. The last time San Jose defeated the Galaxy on their home turf was on November 4th 2012. The two clashed in the Conference Semifinals and the Northern California club stunned LA with a 1-0 victory at the then dubbed Home Depot Center.
In fact, since the Galaxy’s home stadium has been renamed the StubHub Center in 2013 the Quakes have yet to taste victory. In the four matches played in Carson, LA has a 2-2-0 record with a plus six goal differential. The most recent result at Los Angeles ended in a one sided victory for the Galaxy on July 17th, 2015.
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San Jose’s forward Quincy Amarikwa surprised LA by scoring two goals in a span of three minutes in the first half; a 2-0 lead was a dream start for the Northern California club. However, captain Robbie Keane’s hat-trick and Steven Gerrard scoring his first goal in a Galaxy uniform led the way to a 5-2 comeback victory.
How the season has started for LA and San Jose
The 2016 season is entering its third week and these two clubs are currently heading opposite directions. The Quakes have put to bed the frustrating memories of 2015 and have started this season with a bang. So far they are a perfect 2-0-0 and have a plus two goal differential. They also currently sit in first place of the competitive Western Conference.
Los Angeles started the season with a 4-1 comeback victory against D.C. United in their season opener at home on March sixth. However, the five time MLS Cup Champions stumbled against the Colorado Rapids in their second match last Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Marco Pappa’s volley in the dying moments of the match sent the Galaxy packing with a narrow with 1-0 defeat. This result has place LA in fifth place in the West with a 1-0-1 record.
The road to victory for the Quakes
If San Jose wants to continue their perfect start to the season and get their first victory at the StubHub Center then their pace must be the main weapon. Yes Chris Wondolowski is the Quakes main goal scorer but if the Northern California club want to make the U.S. international job easier on Saturday then Amarikwa must be active. Amarikwa has to run at the defense relentlessly and attract their attention. By doing that Wondolowski will have space to exploit in the defense.
The back line of LA is an experienced bunch with Jelle Van Damme, A.J. DelaGarza, Robbie Rogers and potentially Ashley Cole if he is ready for the game.
LA’s manager Bruce Arena stated that the former English international left back will be good to go against the Quakes, according to the LA Galaxy Insider, Adam Serrano. If Cole is back then San Jose must force the 35-year-old defender to rely on his pace and not on his brain.
LA's offense must come alive
The Galaxy can easily turn their season around with a victory in this match. The midfield will be the key tool to break down San Jose on Saturday. Gerrard, Sebastian Lletget, Nigel de Jong and Gyasi Zardes have to take control of the ball and suffocate the Quakes offense. They cannot allow Simon Dawkins to start the Earthquakes attack. Instead they need to push through and test the back line and San Jose’s goalkeeper David Bingham.
However, the main place where LA has to improve from their last match is their shooting accuracy. The Galaxy offense created nine shots in the match but only one of them were placed on target. For a club that has Keane, Zardes, and Mike Magee on their roster that is not acceptable.
There might be some good news for LA, and that is Giovani Dos Santos might be ready for the game. The Mexican forward has been training this week along with Alan Gordon and the coach has described them both as “progressing” according to the LA Galaxy Insider.
If the two forwards or just one of them are able to suit up for LA on Saturday the attack will receive a much needed boost. However, the Quakes creativity and pace will be too much for Los Angeles to handle.