San Jose Earthquakes vs Colorado Rapids Preview by Chris Brown
Chris Wondolowski and the San Jose Earthquakes welcome the Rapids to Avaya Stadium on Saturday for a clash between two Western Conference sides both currently out of the playoff picture.
Colorado remain in 10th place in the West but come off a draw with league leaders Toronto FC, behind a second half goal from Dominique Badji, to claim their first point on the road in 2017.
San Jose currently sit on 26 points, just one point behind Vancouver for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Quakes return home from a three match road trip in which they failed to record a single point while they gave up 12 goals over those three losses to New York Red Bulls, Atlanta United and Seattle Sounders.
Jared Watts and Axel Sjoberg did an excellent job of keeping Chris Wondolowski in check in 2016. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
The two sides have already met in 2017 all the way back in May when San Jose visited the Mile-High City and lost 3-0 to Colorado behind two goals from Shkelzen Gashi and a third from Dominique Badji.
Rapids Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni has hinted that Tim Howard will not feature in the match, following his exploits in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s Gold Cup winning performance on Wednesday night, so Zac MacMath should see his second straight start in goal for the Burgundy Boys.
A lot has changed since that Spring meeting between these two clubs. San Jose sacked their long serving coach Dom Kinnear and replaced him with Chris Leitch.
Colorado have finally integrated Mohammed Saeid into the side after shipping out Marc Burch and Sam Cronin and as recently as Wednesday Colorado announced the signing of a new International in Stefan Aigner.
Aigner will play on the wing for the Rapids after joining the club from 1860 Munich, the Bundgesliga 2 side that shares Allianz Arena with German giants Bayern Munich.
The 29 year Munich born winger also spent time with Eintracht Frankfurt and scored 25 goals with 25 assists in the Bundesliga and 31 goals and 25 assists in Bundesliga 2.
Zac MacMath should make his second straight start for Colorado as Tim Howard will rest following the Gold Cup final on Wednesday night. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
Unfortunately for the Rapids, Aigner has yet to join the team’s practices and he isn’t expected to play for the team on Saturday, but will hopefully get his first action for the club on August 5th when Colorado host Vancouver Whitecaps.
For San Jose the game plan for Saturday’s match against the Rapids may not be a lot different than it was underneath Dom Kinnear. The focal point for the Earthquake attack is still Chris Wondolowski, who leads the team with eight goals, five more than anyone else on the team, and also leads the team with five assists.
In previous match ups Colorado has used their defensive height advantage by blanketing Wondolowski with Axel Sjoberg and Jared Watts. Sjoberg stands at an intimidating 6’ 7” while Watts checks in at 6’ 1”, and between the two of them they limit the amount of damage that Wondo can do with his head. Sjoberg will certainly start against the Quakes and though the defender can appear too tall for his feet and slightly gangly at times, he’s done an excellent job of keeping up with Wondolowski in previous meetings and will be asked to do so again.
Axel Sjoberg’s height will help prevent crosses and long balls from finding Chris Wondolowski’s head on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
Jahmir Haka has been impressive in midfield this season for the Earthquakes and will need to step up in Saturday’s match if Colorado do their best to take Wondo out of the game. Haka has looked dangerous from midfield having three goals, four assists and is third on the team with shots this season. If Haka can find some greater accuracy on his long range shots he could do serious damage from midfield as the Rapid defense does prefer to sit a little deeper and compact when playing on the road.
Ultimately the match may be decided by home field advantage. So far in 2017 San Jose has played much better at home grabbing 19 of their 26 points in Avaya Stadium while the Rapids have been hopeless away from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in 2017. Last week’s match against Toronto FC saw the Rapids claim their only point on the road in 2017, meaning that Colorado has taken only one point of 24 possible road points.
If that home vs. away form stays true on Saturday look for San Jose to grab three crucial points in their hunt to be a part of the 2017 MLS CUP playoffs.
