On Saturday evening, the San Jose Earthquakes and Philadelphia Union will meet at Talen Energy Stadium. The two sides will be looking to add to their points total and climb their respective conference table.
San Jose and Philadelphia don’t have a lengthy history between them, as the Union only entered MLS play in 2010. However, the matchup has been evenly contested through 10 meetings, with the Earthquakes’ 4-3-3 record holding a slight edge.
Early on, San Jose were the much stronger side and lost just one of the first six contests (4-1-1). However, over the past four seasons, the Quakes have gone winless against the Eastern Conference club (0-2-2) and will be looking for their first victory since 2013. The club’s last win in Philadelphia came in 2012.
Philly has been a thorn in the Quakes’ side of late. In 2014, San Jose stormed back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the 70th minute, only to surrender a goal two minutes later and another soon after. At Avaya in 2015, in what was a crucial match for the Quakes’ playoff hopes, a goal by Chris Wondolowski seemed to be enough to secure all three points before substitute Conor Casey tallied a brace in the final 16 minutes to flip the script.
The meeting in 2016 saw Simon Dawkins score an 83rd minute equalizer despite San Jose playing a man down for most of the second half. In 2017, Vako’s third-minute strike was cancelled out by a pair of Union goals before Wondolowski’s stoppage-time penalty kick drew the sides level.
The Earthquakes and Union haven’t had decades of history to build upon, but the drama between the two clubs in limited time together in MLS has been epic.
Saturday’s contest kicks off at 4 p.m. PT and can be followed live on NBC Sports California and the NBC Sports app, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
