Robbie Rogers (14) and Kip Colvey (18) fight for the ball during the first meeting of the 2016 Cali Classico. The Galaxy would beat the Earthquakes 3-1 in Los Angeles.
The San Jose Earthquakes travel to the City of Angels to take on bitter rival Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday, May 22nd for the 62nd edition of the California Classico. The Galaxy won the first meeting of the season in LA 3-1 after Quakes’ midfielder Simon Dawkins was issued a red card in first-half stoppage time and Gyasi Zardes scored a second-half brace. San Jose’s last match, a 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo, has put them within one point of the Galaxy for fourth in the Western Conference and two points of the Vancouver Whitecaps in third. As close as the Western Conference race is, three points on Sunday is incredibly important to both sides.
With the lineup that the Galaxy have, it should be of no surprize that they lead the league in scoring and have the best differential at +12. With Zardes, Robbie Keane, Gio dos Santos, Steven Gerard, and Mike Magee in attack and Ashley Cole, Jelle Van Damme, and Robbie Rogers in defense, LA is on paper one of, if not the best team in the league. Only league leaders Colorado have been able to best the Galaxy so far this year and no one has done it at StubHub Center. San Jose will have to lock down the midfield and deny the Galaxy forwards service if they want to end Los Angeles’ five game unbeaten run at home.
The Quakes have struggled on the road this season and a trip to LA does not bode well for San Jose. Not only are they winless on the road this year, they also haven’t won at the StubHub Center since 2012. If the Earthquakes plan on bucking that trend they are going to need another big game from Alberto Quintero and Anibal Godoy who combined for all three goals against Houston last week. Breaking down the LA defense might not be as easy of a task, but with Chris Wondolowski in the center of the box anything can happen. The Quakes’ captain has seven goals so far this season and sits fourth in the early race for the Golden Boot, an award he last won in 2012 and 2010.
The early season trend for the Cali Classico sides definitely tilts in the Galaxy’s favor having averaged 3.4 goals per game and 1.4 goals against at home this season while the Quakes have averaged just 1 goal per game on the road while conceding 2.2. While five home games for LA and five road games for San Jose is a small sample size, it’s explains why the Galaxy are still unbeaten at home and why the Quakes still haven’t won on the road. Quincy Amarikwa and Simon Dawkins have only scored one goal apiece so far and are expected to be contributing a lot more to the team’s scoring. In fact only Wondolowski and Quintero have scored multiple goals this season. On the flip side, the Galaxy have five players with multiple goals this year and have the second highest points per game because of it.
Expect the Galaxy’s skill to stand out as they move the ball through the midfield while the Quakes will look to counter and get crosses from wide positions when they face off at 4 PM Pacific Time on FOX Sports 1 from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
San Jose Earthquakes
