San Jose, CA – San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 LA Galaxy in the US Open Cup; Avaya Stadium, July 10, 2017.
The shine had already diminished on one of MLS’s oldest and fiercest rivalries when Los Angeles FC joined the league this season, stepping on the toes of the LA Galaxy’s longstanding Cali Clasico rivalry with the San Jose Earthquakes. With both teams in the bottom half of the Western Conference, it already felt like Friday’s rivalry meeting had become an MLS afterthought when the big showdown took another slap upside the head on Monday Afternoon when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was shown red for striking Montreal’s Michael Petrasso, meaning he will miss meeting his fellow Swedes Mikael Stahre and Magnus Eriksson when the Earthquakes make their only trip to Carson on Friday Night.
Despite losing Zlatan in the 41st minute and playing down a man for the majority of the game, the Galaxy were able to galvanize and find a 75th minute goal from Ola Kamara to pull out 3 big road points in Montreal. The win snapped a four match losing streak for the struggling Galaxy, all of which came after Zlatan’s legendary MLS debut in which his brace led the Galaxy to an improbable come from behind win over cross town rivals LAFC.
With Galaxy’s struggles after bringing Zlatan on board, the whispers are growing louder that his MLS career will look more like Steven Gerrard and less like Robbie Keane. Friday’s showdown presents an opportunity to see what a Zlatan-less Galaxy squad would look like and if his larger than life presence is doing more harm than good for Sigi Schmid’s side.
If anybody is relieved to see Zlatan sitting this match out, it’s the struggline backline for San Jose. The Quakes come into the match hungry after being throttled by D.C. United on Saturday Night at Avaya Stadium. The normally punchless DCU side was running circles around the Quakes back five, which later became four, exploiting open space and capitalizing on sloppy play in dangerous areas. The good news for Quakes faithful is that the five man back line looks to be a thing of the past as Mikael Stahre admitted after the match that the lineup and gameplan was “my bad.”
The Earthquakes will be looking for their third straight win in the storied rivalry for the first time since 2005 and their first ever set of back to back wins in Los Angeles. The last meeting at Stubhub Center between the two saw the Earthquakes take a one week hiatus from their atrocious 2017 road form to thoroughly dominate the Galaxy 3-0, helping buoy them into the playoffs while sending the Galaxy into a tailspin that ended with their second Wooden Spoon award. The Earthquakes added insult to injury when Chris Wondolowski punctuated the blowout with the third goal of the afternoon and then taunted the Galaxy supporters after passing Landon Donovan for most career MLS road goals.
Chris Wondolowski celebrates after scoring in a match against the LA Galaxy on July 1st, 2017. Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge.
Friday’s showdown marks the 83rd meeting between the two rivals across all competitions, starting in 1996 at the Rose Bowl when the Galaxy defeated the Clash 2-1. The storied rivalry has survived an Earthquakes hiatus, a name change, and players such as Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon, and current Galaxy netminder David Bingham switching sides. But with LAFC joining the league, the Cali Clasico has been deemed the “secondary” rivalry for the Galaxy by Major League Soccer. As such, the two sides will only meet twice this season instead of the three times that the Galaxy will take on LAFC. While the “new toy” may be fresher and shinier, make no mistake, this rivalry still matters just as much as ever to the players on the field and the fans in the stands.
San Jose Earthquakes
LA Galaxy
