September 17, 2005 may not be well known in San Jose Earthquakes history, but it does carry some significance. San Jose earned a come-from-behind win over now defunct Chivas USA, scoring a pair of goals after the 80th minute to win 2-1.
That marked the Quakes’ fifth consecutive victory, both the first and last time that has ever happened in club history. San Jose would then add a sixth consecutive victory before drawing with Dallas.
When San Jose arrives at the stadium on Saturday night, they will be taking with them four consecutive victories and an opportunity to make history. They could be just the second Quakes side, and first in 14 years, to earn wins in five straight.
Standing in their way is Columbus Crew SC, who are currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a 7-14-3 record. San Jose may not be facing Columbus at the ideal time, however, as they have defeated the Montreal Impact and New York Red Bulls in consecutive matches. Crew SC had earned just two points in their previous 10 matches combined (0-8-2).
To date, Columbus has been a mid-table team defensively but has struggled to get things together on offense. They have scored 24 goals, third fewest in MLS, with seven coming in their last three games alone.
The offense that Crew SC has produced has come via Pedro Santos and Gyasi Zardes, who have scored seven goals apiece. No other player has tallied more than two. By comparison, Chris Wondolowski (9), Vako (7), Shea Salinas (6), Danny Hoesen (5) and Magnus Eriksson (4) all have at least four.
Kickoff is at 6:45 p.m. and the match will be broadcast live on Telemundo 48, KNBR 1050 and KZSF 1370. English SAP will be offered through Telemundo’s broadcast and on the NBC Sports app.
