Anibal Godoy celebrates scoring his first MLS goal for San Jose in a 5-0 win at Kansas City
With 2 games to go in their 2015 season, the San Jose Earthquakes host Sporting Kansas City for the last regular season game at Avaya Stadium. Both teams are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race with the Quakes the odd team out, sitting 3 points behind Portland and Seattle and 4 points behind KC. A loss or tie against Sporting would clinch a playoff spot for Kansas City and would put San Jose’s playoff fate in the hands of Seattle and Portland.
San Jose’s last meeting with Sporting ended with a 5-0 victory for the Quakes on the road, shocking the league with their rejuvenated attack. That night was MLS’ introduction to Anibal Godoy as the defensive midfielder was fantastic in the match, winning balls in the midfield, starting attacks, and getting a goal of his own to go with the clean sheet. The Quakes are a much different team with Godoy in the lineup because of his ability to win the ball high up the field and keep opposing teams in their own half. Godoy is the key to San Jose finding success again versus Sporting and he’ll have to be at his best for the team to get a win.
San Jose will also have Matias Perez Garcia back from his one game suspension for the red card he earned against Real Salt Lake. Garcia scored the game winner in the match and then received his second yellow for taking off his jersey in celebration. Garcia adds offensive support in the midfield for San Jose when they can get forward and pressure the defense. They’ll also have Fatai Alashe back from the U23 National Team but he’ll have to replace Victor Bernardez who will be serving a suspension for card accumulation. It’s a familiar position for the rookie who has already filled in for both center backs this season and done so very well, but missing the aerial presence of Bernardez is a potential problem for the Quakes in a crucial game.
After the 5-0 loss to San Jose at home, Sporting will be looking for to get revenge against the Quakes and there would be no sweeter revenge than clinching a playoff spot and crushing San Jose’s chances at the same time. Sporting could do that Friday night with a win or a tie, eliminating the Quakes at the same time if Portland and Seattle find results this weekend. Sporting is more than capable of scoring goals with the trio of Dom Dwyer, Krisztian Németh, and Benny Feilhaber already combining for 31 goals this year, but they’ll need their defense to keep San Jose from scoring early goals again. Matt Besler and Kevin Ellis were at the heart of the Sporting defense that was picked apart for 5 goals last meeting and the center back duo will have to be better on Friday. If San Jose can get the ball down the wings like they did last time, Besler and Ellis will have to prevent crosses from finding their target in the center of the box.
With the season coming to it’s close, huge Western Conference playoff implications ride on this match. Should Sporting win or draw, the last 3 playoff spots could all be clinched this weekend. Should the Quakes lose, both Sporting and Seattle will clinch spots in the playoffs automatically, and Portland would only need a tie against LA to clinch their place in the playoffs. If Sporting and San Jose tie, Sporting clinches, Seattle would only need one point against Houston to clinch, and Portland would then need a win against LA to clinch their spot. A win for the Quakes keeps their hopes alive and means that Sporting and Portland would not clinch a playoff berth this week although Seattle still could with a win in Houston.
The match will be nationally broadcast on Friday, October 16th at 8 pm PDT on UniMas from Avaya Stadium in San Jose.
