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It is the return of the California Clasico with both the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes desperate for three points at the StubHub Center Friday night.
The Galaxy return home with a four-game losing streak snapped after a gutty 1-0 win in Montreal Monday afternoon that saw LA play the final 59 minutes down a man after a Zlatan Ibrahimovic red card.
The Earthquakes picked up four points from back-to-back road games, but suffered their fourth loss in the last six games, losing 3-1 at home to D.C. United.
The Galaxy and Earthquakes have met 82 times in all competitions. In regular season play, the Galaxy have won 30 times and the Quakes 22, with 14 draws, since their first meeting on April 28, 1996.
LA Galaxy
Sigi Schmid made three changes to the side that lost to FC Dallas, 3-2, the previous week with Dave Romney replacing the suspended Ashley Cole at left back, Emrah Klimenta filling in for Daniel Steres at right back and Sebastian Lletget returned to the midfield.
Ibrahimovic was sent off in the 41st minute on a straight red card after slapping Michael Petrasso, who stepped on the Swede’s foot. Still, Ola Kamara found the second-half winner for LA (4-6-1) in the 75th minute, the fourth consecutive game the Norwegian international has found the back of the net.
“I love scoring. It’s the best feeling ever and even if I’m playing on the wing, I’m trying to get in striker positions all the time,” Kamara said after the game. “When Zlatan got the red card, I played on top and I was able to get a match-winning goal. It was a great feeling for me. We really needed that win after four losses. We need that feeling, that momentum in the team and I think we got that now and maybe that gives us some confidence going into the next games.”
· Suspended: F - Zlatan Ibrahimovic
· Suspended after next caution: M - Perry Kitchen
· International duty: None
· Injury Report: OUT: F - Bradford Jamieson IV (concussion), D - Rolf Feltscher (shoulder surgery); QUESTIONABLE: F - Giovani dos Santos (undisclosed injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Emrah Klimenta, Michael Ciani, Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole — Perry Kitchen, Sebastian Lletget — Romain Alessandrini, Jonathan dos Santos, Ema Boateng — Ola Kamara
· Notes: Kamara has scored in four straight games tying an MLS-career best and becoming the sixth Galaxy player to score in four straight games since 2010. Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane are the only Galaxy players to score in five straight in that time. … LA has lost three straight league home games, one short of their franchise record. They lost four straight MLS home games from April 22-June 8, 2006.
San Jose Earthquakes
Mikael Stahre made one change from the side that tied Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 2-2, Wednesday with Chris Wehan starting in a four-man midfield in place of left back Shea Salinasin an altered 3-4-3.
Danny Hoesen scored for a third consecutive match and now has six goals on the season, but it came after D.C. United scored the first three goals of the first half as the Quakes (2-6-3) saw their home winless streak stretched to four games (with a second loss in a row) in a 3-1 defeat at Avaya Stadium on Saturday evening.
“We came out totally wrong,” Stahre said after the game. “We created mistakes with the ball. We couldn’t press them good enough and they could easily find space behind us. To be frank, they were much better than us this evening.”
· Suspended: None
· Suspended after next caution: M - Anibal Godoy
· International duty: None
· Injury Report: OUT: D - Yeferson Quintana (ankle injury), M - Eric Calvillo (knee injury), M - Jahmir Hyka (ankle injury)
Projected Starting XI
(5-4-1, right to left)
GK: Andrew Tarbell — Nick Lima, Jimmy Ockford, Harold Cummings, Florian Jungwirth, Shea Salinas — Magnus Eriksson, Jackson Yueill, Anibal Godoy, Vako — Danny Hoesen
· Notes: Hoesen took eight shots against D.C. United last weekend, just the fifth time an MLS player has taken 8+ shots in a game this season. He is the first Quakes player to do so since Chris Wondolowski in March 2013. … San Jose’s 3-1 win against Minnesota was their first road win since a 3-0 win over the Galaxy last season 3-0 on August 27, 2017 (5L-2D in between).
All-Time Series
· Overall: LA Galaxy 30 wins, 105 goals … San Jose Earthquakes 22 wins, 91 goals … 14 ties
· At LA: Galaxy 19 wins, 59 goals … Earthquakes 6 wins, 39 goals … 6 ties
· Last meeting at LA: LA Galaxy 0, San Jose Earthquakes 3 (Aug. 27, 2017)
Officials
Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistant Referees: Adam Garner, Michael Kampmeinert
4th Official: Hilario Grajeda
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
