San Jose Earthquakes vs. New York Red Bulls | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

San Jose Earthquakes vs. New York Red Bulls
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 32
Avaya Stadium — San Jose
October 6 - 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

The New York Red Bulls will look to keep their Supporters’ Shield dreams alive when they head to Avaya Stadium to face a San Jose Earthquakes team that is playing for nothing but pride.

The Red Bulls enter the weekend one point behind Atlanta United in the Shield race following a comprehensive 2-0 win over the Five Stripes at Red Bull Arena on Sunday. The Quakes meanwhile, squandered a two-goal halftime lead in a 3-2 loss to the Houston Dynamo.

The Red Bulls have lost once in their last four meetings with the Earthquakes (2W-1D). However, they haven’t won a regular season game in San Jose since 2003, going 0W-6L-3D in that time, per Opta.

San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose (4-19-8) suffered a fifth straight defeat, falling to the Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday.

Chris Wondolowski opened the scoring with a 37th-minute penalty kick, his 143rd career goal, and the visitors doubled their lead just before halftime on an Alejandro Fuenmayor own goal. But the Dynamo leveled on goals by Mauro Manotas and Tomas Martinez in an 11-minute span and Romell Quioto struck for the late winner three minutes from full time.

“Frustration is a good word,” interim coach Steve Ralston said. “I don't think we played great in the first half, but to find ourselves up 2-0 was nice. I told the guys, 'Listen, this has happened too much this season. We need to finish this game out. We can't just stay the same level, we have to raise our level of play.' And we didn’t."

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Harold Cummings, D - Jimmy Ockford
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kevin Partida (right ACL reconstruction surgery and partial meniscectomy)

Projected Starting XI
(4-1-4-1, right to left)
GK: Andrew Tarbell — Nick Lima, Guram Kashia, Harold Cummings, Shea Salinas — Luis Felipe — Tommy Thompson, Vako, Jackson Yueill, Magnus Eriksson — Chris Wondolowski

Notes: Andrew Tarbell has conceded 60 goals this season, tied for the most of any MLS keeper in league play since 2010. … San Jose has won one of their last 14 league games at home (8L-5D). They’ve allowed 3+ goals in four consecutive home matches, the longest such streak in team history.

New York Red Bulls

The Red Bulls (19-7-5) stayed in the Shield race with an emphatic 2-0 victory over Atlanta at Red Bull Arena Sunday.

The Red Bulls took the game to ATLUTD, causing havoc with their press and took a deserved lead on Daniel Royer’s in the 39th minute. After having a goal called back for offside in the first half, central defender Tim Parker put the game out of reach on a tap-in in the 74th minute.

Making the performance even more impressive was that New York did it without a suspended Bradley Wright-Phillips and an injured Tyler Adams.

“Today we were hoping maybe it can galvanize our team and you get energy from it and say ‘hey, we can all step up a little more,’ which they did,” Chris Armas said. “So I think that says a lot about our club and it’s just a big demand all the time to say, it’s easy to talk, but the guys that show up and perform the way they did was most impressive.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Kaku, D - Michael Murillo
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Florian Valot (torn left ACL), D - Kyle Duncan (torn right ACL), M - Vincent Bezecourt (right MCL surgery), D - Tommy Redding (shoulder surgery), M - Ben Mines (broken left clavicle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: M - Tyler Adams (back injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Luis Robles — Michael Murillo, Tim Parker, Aaron Long, Kemar Lawrence — Marc Rzatkowki, Sean Davis — Danny Royer, Kaku, Alex Muyl — Bradley Wright-Phillips

Notes: With their 2-0 win last weekend, the Red Bulls set a new club record with 13 clean sheets in a single season. They are now four away from the MLS record of 17, set by Sporting Kansas City (2000) and the LA Galaxy (2011). … New York hasn’t won on the road in four games (1L-3D, conceding nine goals in that time. They had allowed eight in the nine road games prior.

All-Time Series

Overall: San Jose Earthquakes 17 wins, 57 goals … New York Red Bulls 12 wins, 57 goals … 9 draws
At San Jose: Earthquakes 13 wins, 38 goals … Red Bulls 2 wins, 17 goals … 3 draws
Last meeting at San Jose: San Jose Earthquakes 2, New York Red Bulls 0 (April 13, 2016)