On April 6, the San Jose Earthquakes were winless in their last four matches and had just suffered a lopsided defeat to LAFC. They hosted the team with the Western Conference’s worst record (other than themselves) and earned a convincing win to spur an 11-3-4 run over their next 18 matches.
The Earthquakes head into Saturday’s match at Avaya Stadium also winless in four, fresh off a loss to LAFC, and facing the Western Conference’s lowest-ranked team. Can San Jose kick-start a similar run of form? Perhaps they can once again tap into a Tommy Thompson pregame television hype speech for inspiration.
The Quakes are desperate for points, after earning just one of a possible 12 from their last four contests. The team is 100% healthy and in the midst of a 10-match unbeaten streak at home, so they should demand a positive result on Saturday.
Whitecaps FC snapped an eight-match winless streak with a scoreless draw in Minnesota on July 27. Vancouver has won two of the three games since, including an impressive shutout win over D.C. United last weekend. However, Vancouver hasn’t beaten a Western Conference team since May 25.
San Jose is familiar with the ‘Caps after the two teams met on July 20. The Quakes prevailed 3-1 despite falling behind early, giving them a third consecutive victory for the first time this season.
Whitecaps FC is led by Colombian forward Fredy Montero, who has a team-high six goals this season. They’ll also be leaning on South Korean Designated Player Inbeom Hwang, who would surely like to add to his somewhat disappointing two-goal, two-assist total in 2019.
The match kicks off at 6:45 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Telemundo 48, KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF.
