As far as MLS rivalries go, it's hard to get more historic than the California Clasico between the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes.
Both clubs are MLS originals, though the Earthquakes name went dormant for two seasons when the first franchise moved and became the Houston Dynamo.
And you'd be hard-pressed to find a more decorated fixture in MLS. The Galaxy are the only five-time MLS Cup winners, plus boast a Concacaf Champions Cup and two U.S. Open Cup titles to their name. But San Jose also hoisted MLS Cup twice, once even beating their arch-nemesis to do so.
The California Clasico also presents a clash in ideology. There's the glitz and glamour of an L.A. team that's boasted global icons like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and now Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez. On the other hand, the grit and determination of San Jose is represented perfectly by the long and unlikely career of MLS all-time scoring leader Chris Wondolowski.
It's a fixture with a long and winding narrative, and one that's heavily intertwined with the most important American player in MLS history.
Roots of a Rivalry
Both teams — originally the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Clash — were among the 10 founding members of MLS, and among the closest to each other geographically (exceeded only by the NY/NJ MetroStars' proximity to New England and D.C.). And through the end of the '90s, the Galaxy were a bit of a bridesmaid club, while the Clash struggled for local relevance.
That all changed in 2000, when San Jose adopted the Earthquakes moniker in homage to previous pro teams in the region in the '70s and '80s. The following year they landed prodigious American attacker Landon Donovan, then 19, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.
Donovan was far from the only star that flipped the script in the 2001 MLS Cup, defeating LA 2-1 for the first trophy in club history. By the time the Quakes repeated, he was an MLS Best XI talent and member of the most successful US men's national team World Cup showing in more than a half-century. That all made his move from San Jose to LA in 2005 (via one brief final stop at Leverkusen) one of the most bitterly received by any fanbase in MLS history.
From there, the trophy winning slanted decidedly in the Galaxy's direction, with the first version of the Quakes bolting for Houston following the 2005 season and Northern California's MLS fans forced to wait two years for a replacement. LA won four of their five titles with Donovan in the fold, joined first by Beckham and then by Robbie Keane as the Galaxy's star-studded reputation truly took flight.
The new Quakes eventually emerged with an even more blue-collar identity, forged by the better-late-than-never rise of Wondolowski alongside other heroes like Steven Lenhart and Alan Gordon. Version 2's only major trophy so far has been that memorable Goonies-inspired run to the 2012 Supporters' Shield, but they've had plenty of fun and success ruining plans for their rivals to the south.
Memorable Moments
The Galaxy have had most of the success overall. But the most dramatic moments largely belong to the Quakes:
