1. About that last one: Earthquakes players and supporters experienced soccer nirvana the last time these teams met. A midweek 5-0 triumph over a worn-out Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park, playing for the fourth time in 12 days, featured as many Quakes goals than they'd scored in their previous seven MLS games combined. Even though a repeat performance on Friday night is highly unlikely, the Aug. 19 blowout went down like a sweet rack of Kansas City-style barbecue ribs. The Quakes snapped a 10-game road losing streak against SKC, which lost at home for the first time in 17 games across all competitions. Chris Wondolowski and Cordell Cato had two goals apiece, and Panamanian newcomer Anibal Godoy scored his first goal with the club. Wondo's brace gave him 100 career goals as an Earthquake. Most likely, the Quakes will stick with their more familiar carpe-diem style in the rematch, with passionate marking, bolts of lightning down the flanks, and opportunistic forays up front. It'll likely to be a tension-filled grinder of a game.
2. A toast to home cooking: Avaya Stadium has been magnificent in its rookie season -- a glistening beacon of soccer stability in the South Bay; towering but quaint; a family-style fortress with one heck of an outdoor bar. Rookie Fatai Alashe earned the first big toast of the new digs, when he scored the first goal in Avaya history in a 2-1 win over Chicago on March 22 -- on an extra-effort finish off a Matias Perez Garcia corner kick. San Jose improved to 6-3-5 at Avaya with a 1-1 draw against Vancouver on Oct. 3. Fittingly, Chris Wondolowski, the face of the franchise, scored the tying goal after Cordell Cato shot off the keeper. Wondo poached and became the first MLS player to score 20 goals in the month of October in his career. So, in this the final regular-season game at Avaya in its debut season, expect the Quakes to deliver a spirited defense of the first true soccer-specific stadium in Northern California history,
3. Mr. 200: Shea Salinas stands to reach a nice landmark on Friday night if he plays in his 200th career game. But there's no time for walks down memory lane this week. It's all about those 90 minutes against SKC. Salinas, a Texas native and one of the best guys in MLS, was originally drafted by the Quakes in the second round (15th overall) in 2008. He has a career-best three goals to go with four assists this season, coming off back-to-back seasons when he had career highs of eight assists. But his main goal is to help the Quakes get to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. They just missed in 2013, losing out on a playoff berth in the second tiebreaker.
