SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES vs. SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Avaya Stadium | San Jose, California
Saturday, September 10 | Week #27 | MLS Game #280
8:30 pm ET (MLS LIVE, CSN-CA, JOEtv)
A massive match for a pair of clubs looking to pull themselves back into the Western Conference playoff positions is ahead when the San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders FC renew their 40-year plus rivalry when they meet Saturday evening at Avaya Stadium. The Quakes come into the game in seventh place in the West, three points below the red line, their current winless run at three games following a 2-0 loss at Columbus Crew SC last weekend. Sounders FC are just a point further back in eighth spot, their five-game undefeated run snapped in a 4-2 loss at arch-rivals Portland Timbers in their last match.
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- The Quakes saw their winless run extended to three games with a second defeat in that time, in their 2-0 loss at Columbus Crew SC in their last match. The Quakes have been shut out at the attacking end in their last two matches, now 206 minutes since their last goal.
- Sounders FC saw their five-game undefeated run come to a crashing halt, falling 4-2 to the Portland Timbers on Aug. 28 at Providence Park. Rookie Jordan Morris netted his ninth goal of the season, his first in three games, tied for the fifth-most in a single season by a rookie in MLS history.
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris hit the back of the net for Sounders FC in a 2-0 victory May 7 at CenturyLink Field.
- The teams played to a 1-1 draw in their final meeting of the season last year on Sept. 12, in the first meeting ever at Avaya Stadium. The goal was the first scored by Sounders FC on four visits to northern California, since a 2-1 loss at Buck Shaw Stadium in 2012. Seattle last won at San Jose in 2010.
- The win in the first meeting put an end to a five-game Quakes undefeated streak in the league series. The last Sounders FC victory had come May 17, 2014, a 1-0 win at CenturyLink Field. The Quakes had won on their two previous visits to CenturyLink Field, the first wins for the Earthquakes in Seattle since 2012.
REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo. AR1 (bench): Apolinar Mariscal; AR2 (opposite): Andrew Bigelow; 4th: Kevin Stott
MLS Career: 219 games; FC/gm: 24.9; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 76; pens: 77
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SJ: Fatai Alashe, Anibal Godoy … SEA: Joevin Jones
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: SJ: Jordan Stewart … SEA: Osvaldo Alonso, Andreas Ivanschitz, Nicolas Lodeiro
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME [MLS] (20 meetings): Earthquakes 10 wins, 24 goals … Sounders FC 7 wins, 22 goals … Ties 3
AT SAN JOSE (8 meetings): Earthquakes 5 wins, 12 goals … Sounders FC 1 win, 5 goals … Ties 2
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris hit the back of the net for Sounders FC in a 2-0 victory May 7 at CenturyLink Field.
- The teams played to a 1-1 draw in their final meeting of the season last year on Sept. 12, in the first meeting ever at Avaya Stadium. The goal was the first scored by Sounders FC on four visits to northern California, since a 2-1 loss at Buck Shaw Stadium in 2012. Seattle last won at San Jose in 2010.
- The win in the first meeting put an end to a five-game Quakes undefeated streak in the league series. The last Sounders FC victory had come May 17, 2014, a 1-0 win at CenturyLink Field. The Quakes had won on their two previous visits to CenturyLink Field, the first wins for the Earthquakes in Seattle since 2012.
- Coaches record: Dominic Kinnear vs. SEA: P13 W5 L5 D3 … Brian Schmetzer vs. SJ: first meeting
LAST MEETING (MLS):
5/7: SEA 2, SJ 0 (Dempsey 26; Morris 89)
- Sounders FC took the lead in the 26th minute. Jordan Morris sent in a pass from the right flank which was turned along by Erik Friberg for Clint Dempsey, and he turned home a powerful shot from the heart of the area.
- The Earthquakes had a glorious chance to tie the score when Victor Bernardez went down in Seattle's penalty area after Tyrone Mears took him down with a sliding tackle. Chris Wondolowski stepped up to take the penalty in the 84th minute, but it clanked off the post after goalkeeper Stefan Frei guessed in the wrong direction.
- The match was sealed just before the end of regulation time when Morris hit for a goal in a fourth consecutive game, allowed to step forward before ripping a low shot that sailed inside San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham's left post from well outside the penalty area.
- SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-2-1-3): Stefan Frei - Tyrone Mears, Brad Evans, Chad Marshall, Joevin Jones - Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Cristian Roldan 72) - Clint Dempsey - Aaron Kovar (Nelson Haedo Valdez 64), Jordan Morris, Herculez Gomez (Andreas Ivanschitz 85).
- SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): David Bingham - Kofi Sarkodie (Tommy Thompson 81), Marvell Wynne, Victor Bernardez, Shaun Francis - Alberto Quintero (Matias Perez Garcia 65), Matheus Silva, Simon Dawkins, Shea Salinas - Chris Wondolowski, Chad Barrett (Adam Jahn 73).
