Victor Bernardez (R) and Lamar Neagle battle for the ball in an earlier meeting in Seattle. San Jose won the two earlier meetings this season.
After a home loss against Philadelphia ended their 4 game winning streak, the San Jose Earthquakes look to bounce back against the Seattle Sounders in an immensely important Western Conference matchup. Last week’s victory over rival Portland Timbers put the Sounders 3 points clear of the Quakes and in a slim lead for 4th in the West as they look to overcome their lack of success against San Jose and increase their lead over San Jose. The Quakes are currently on the outside of the playoff picture but would be in a 4 way tie for 4th with a win.
It will be incredibly important for the Quakes to have Anibal Godoy back in the lineup after playing with the Panamanian National Team on Tuesday. The loss to the Union was the first loss the team suffered since signing Godoy and it’s no coincidence that the loss came in Godoy’s absence. His ability to win the ball in the midfield has been crucial to the club’s success of late, outscoring opponents 9-0 in the games he’s played. The Tuesday game should give him enough time to return to San Jose and rest up in time to take on Seattle and their very dangerous attack.
Seattle will expect to have the forward pairing of Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey up top on Saturday and the Quakes’ defense will have to be in form against one of the most dangerous duos in the league. Martins and Dempsey love to run right at the center of the defense which means Clarence Goodson and Victor Bernardez will be plenty busy on Saturday night. They’ll have to disrupt the Sounders’ attack early and often and try and take the Seattle forwards out of the game if they want to keep a clean sheet and they can’t afford to lose a mark inside the box. The defense has done well to shut down other dangerous attacking pairs and another shutdown performance like the ones seen against Sporting KC and LA Galaxy should be enough to stop Seattle.
The big hope for the Sounders is to finally have a fully match fit team as Clint Dempsey has been battling an injury for the past few weeks and summer transfer Andreas Ivanschitz could finally make his club debut. The Austrian midfielder has yet to see the field due to a short offseason after transferring from Spanish side Levante. Even with the abundance of talent on the Sounders’ squad, Seattle has struggled to score and dictate games as of late and will have to find a way to become the attacking force they once were. Martins and Dempsey will continue to create chances on their own but it will be key for their midfield to win the ball early and be active in attacking runs to support their forwards. If Ivanschitz is healthy enough to play on Saturday he could be a big contributor to the Sounders offense and could be the difference maker in this match.
As good as Seattle looks on paper, the Earthquakes have been the Rave Green’s kryptonite since the Sounders joined the league. San Jose holds a 10-6-2 record in league play against Seattle and an 8-2-1 record since 2012, an average of 2.27 points per game. Seattle has been unable to win a league game in San Jose since 2010 and haven’t left with a point since early 2011. If history is any indicator, San Jose has a huge advantage over Seattle in this match and it will up to Seattle to change the status quo in front of another sold out crowd at Avaya Stadium.
The match kicks off at 7:30 PDT from San Jose on Saturday, September 12th and will be broadcast on CSN Plus in San Jose and JOEtv in Seattle.
