Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. PT at The Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.
Television: Comcast SportsNet California
Radio: 1590 KLIV (English), 1370 KZSF (Spanish)
Places to Watch
Jack’s Bar & Lounge (San Jose), Hyde Park Lounge (San Jose), Double D’s Sports Grille (Los Gatos), Danny Coyle’s (San Francisco), SF Soccer Cafe (San Francisco)
LA Galaxy Scouting Report
The LA Galaxy (3-6-2, 11 pts.) fell to in-stadium foe Chivas USA, 1-0, in the SuperClasico at The Home Depot Center on Saturday night. That result, coupled with Portland’s 2-1 home victory over Chicago on Sunday, pushed the defending MLS Cup champions to the bottom of the nine-team Western Conference, now 13 points behind the second-place Quakes.
Rookie Jose Correa scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot for the host Goats in the 72nd minute after his right-footed volley was contacted on the goal-line by the hand of David Junior Lopes. LA played a man down the rest of the way following a red card to the Brazilian defender, who will miss Wednesday’s match.
Robbie Keane, now in his second season in MLS, leads the Galaxy with three goals, while David Beckham and Landon Donovan have tallied two apiece. Both of Beckham’s strikes have resulted in AT&T Goal of the Week honors via fan voting for the iconic English midfielder, the latest a free-kick equalizer at Montreal in Week 10. Beckham, Donovan and Keane also have two assists each. Donovan and Keane, like Chris Wondolowski for San Jose, will also be absent from Wednesday’s first California Clasico of 2012 due to international duty.
Bruce Arena’s squad is just 2-3-1 in home matches this season after going an undefeated 12-0-5 in home dates en route to the club’s third MLS championship a year ago. The Galaxy are 0-3-2 over their last five.
Of Note
-The San Jose Earthquakes (7-2-3, 24 pts.) are currently in second-place in the MLS Western Conference. Real Salt Lake (8-3-2, 26 pts.) tops the standings, but has still played one more game than the Quakes. The Quakes would vault above RSL and into sole possession of first-place once again with a win over bitter rivals LA Galaxy at The Home Depot Center on Wednesday night. Seattle Sounders FC is currently third (7-2-2, 23 pts.) with one game in hand over the Quakes. RSL hosts FC Dallas on Saturday (6 p.m. PT), while Seattle hosts Columbus on Wednesday (7 p.m. PT) and plays at Chivas USA on Saturday (7:30 p.m. PT).
-At 7-2-3 and 24 points, this matches the best 12-game start to a year in the San Jose Earthquakes’ 15-season club history. In the first MLS Cup campaign of 2001, the Quakes also trotted out to a 7-2-3 start for 24 points. They were 7-3-2 (23 pts.) in 2002 and 6-2-4 (22 pts.) in 2003. The Quakes’ 23 goals scored is their best 12-game output ever. They tallied 22 goals through 12 games in 1998, and 21 in 2004. With 13 goals conceded thus far, this equals the franchise’s second-best 12-game defensive start. San Jose allowed 11 goals over its first 12 matches in 2002, and 13 in both 2001 and 2003.
-The Quakes have already matched their 2011 total of three road wins, and after collecting just 15 points on their travels a year ago (3-8-6), they are past the halfway mark to that number with 10 through five road dates (3-1-1) in 2012. Their 3-0-1 record was the Quakes’ best-ever four-game road start.
Earthquakes – LA Galaxy Connections
-Quakes head coach Frank Yallop was the head coach of the LA Galaxy from 2006-07, compiling a record there of 18-21-12.
-Quakes forward Alan Gordon played for the Galaxy from 2004-10, scoring 16 goals in 99 games. David Beckham made his Galaxy debut in a friendly against Chelsea as part of the World Series of Soccer at The Home Depot Center on July 21, 2007, entering the game for Gordon in the 78th minute.
-Quakes assistant coach Ian Russell played three games for Frank Yallop with the Galaxy in 2007. Galaxy assistant coach Curt Onalfo played in six matches for San Jose in 1997. First-year Galaxy assistant coach Jovan Kirovski played in nine matches for the Quakes in 2008.
-Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant was San Jose’s first-round selection in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft (No. 6 overall) out of Stanford, and played 46 games for the Earthquakes from 2003-04, producing one goal and six assists.
-Current Galaxy starting goalkeeper Josh Saunders was also a member of that Earthquakes draft class (Round 4, No. 36) out of California (2001-02), and was on the roster of the 2003 MLS Cup champions, but did not appear in any games for the franchise.
-Quakes defenders Jason Hernandez and Tim Ward were teammates with Galaxy midfielder Mike Magee with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 2005.
-Quakes goalkeeper David Bingham (2008-10) and Galaxy midfielder Hector Jimenez (2006-10) were teammates at Cal.
-Galaxy forward Chad Barrett played with Quakes goalkeeper Jon Busch in Chicago in 2007-08 and Quakes midfielder Sam Cronin in Toronto from 2009-10.
-Quakes midfielder Simon Dawkins, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, is acquainted with fellow Englishman David Beckham, with Beckham also having trained with Spurs for several weeks during the 2011 MLS preseason.
-Quakes defender Ike Opara and Galaxy midfielder Michael Stephens were teammates on the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team during CONCACAF Olympic qualifying in late March, and the U.S. squad at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.
Twitter
@SJEarthquakes – Official account of the San Jose Earthquakes (#SJEarthquakes)
@QuakesMatchday – NEW! this season, follow for live updates on game days
@LAGalaxy – Official account of the LA Galaxy (#LAGalaxy)
Mobile App
MLS MatchDay 2012 – The official Major League Soccer app, providing up-to-the-minute score updates, in-game highlights, news and more.
