The final regular season meeting between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes will take place on Friday at Avaya Stadium. It will be the first time the California Clásico will be played at San Jose’s new stadium for a Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season matchup.

The Galaxy has only won once in the last 11 times in Northern California. Their last victory in the Bay Area came on July the 1st in the U.S. Open Cup. LA won 1-0 at Avaya Stadium. The Galaxy will be hoping that the new stadium will continue its good fortune for the Southern California team on Friday.

San Jose has enjoyed success against LA when they are in the North. They have faced each other 31 times in the Earthquakes backyard, and San Jose has won 14 times while scoring 46 goals in the process. The Galaxy managed to pull out ten victories and scored 40 goals. Only seven times has the match ended in a draw.

This matchup will make sure to produce some fireworks since both teams are in good form at the moment. Los Angeles has not lost a game since July 25th, the Houston Dynamo defeated LA 3-0 at the BBVA Compass Stadium. Since that match the Galaxy have won six games and have a positive 19 goal differential.

As for the Earthquakes, they started the month of August a little bumpy. They tied Portland and then lost to Houston. However, after that the Quakes took off and are currently on a three game win streak.

The Earthquakes beat Colorado, and then hit the road to beat Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United. In this month, their defense has shut down their opponents by only allowing two goals; so far the Quakes have a positive five goal differential.

The road to victory for the Earthquakes:

The midfield is going to be busy for the entire match on Friday. LA’s offense is stacked with power and if they are allowed to get into a rhythm the Quakes will lose. So San Jose will need to make sure they bother their midfield in any way possible.

However, the midfield will need to make sure that they still lead the offense and get Chris Wondolowski a chance to score. Once the U.S. international forward gets the ball he needs to convert. Because no matter how solid the Quakes midfield play on Friday, the Galaxy will eventually break them down.

San Jose’s only chance to win or tie the game is if their goalie David Bingham plays an extraordinary game.

Predicting Starting XI:

GK: Bingham

DEF: Marvell Wynne, Clarence Goodson, Victor Bernárdez and Shaun Francis

Just like the midfield the defense will need to be on their toes for the entire 90 minutes.

MID: Fatai Alashe, Shea Salinas, Cordell Cato and Anibal Godoy

FWD: Wondolowski and Quincy Amarikwa

Every chance the midfielders produce for them they will need to finish. They need to make sure that they keep the Galaxy’s defense honest. So LA’s right and left back do not go up and help the attack.

The road to victory for the Galaxy:

Los Angeles attack is lethal. Giovani Dos Santos, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Gyasi Zardes, Juninho and Sebastian Lletget make the Galaxy a scary team to face for anyone.

No matter what their offense will find a way to take over and produce chances. Also this will be a homecoming for Lletget, since he is from San Francisco. The Bay Area native might have a little more motivation to score on Friday. However, the area where LA’s has been weakest is on the defense. At times the center backs Omar Gonzalez and Leonardo have been exposed due to their lack of pace.

Now Wondolowski might not be a speedster but Quincy Amarikwa is. If Gonzalez or Leonardo ever gets in a foot race with Amarikwa, they will lose and might give up a goal in the process.

Next in line is Donovan Ricketts, the veteran goalie cannot be shaky when dealing with crosses. At times the 38-year-old Jamaican has shown his age and has committed some errors.

The last club he can afford to make mistakes or second guess his decision when dealing with crosses is the Quakes. Players like Wondolowski, Goodson and Bernárdez will be a nightmare for the keeper to deal with.

Predicting starting XI:

GK: Ricketts

DEF: A.J. DeLaGarza, Gonzalez, Leonardo and Robbie Rogers

MID: Zardes, Juninho, Gerrard and Lletget

FWD: Dos Santos and Keane

Prediction:

San Jose Earthquakes 2, Los Angeles Galaxy 4

In the end the Galaxy’s offense will be too much for the Quakes defense to handle. Los Angeles will leave San Jose with their 11th victory in Northern California.

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About the author
Jorge Belon
My name is Jorge Belon. I’m a writer for VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. My focus is on soccer. Throughout the years I have created different blogs all revolving around soccer. My first was Mr. JB Soccer in 2012. Now I currently operate Belon Soccer News (BSN), where I cover soccer mostly from North America and international tournaments. I am a college at Los Angeles Valley College. I was a part of the college newspaper, The Valley Star for two years. At the Star I held the position of Sports Editor, News Editor, Managing Editor and Editor in Chief. I have been writing about soccer for the past three years. I have covered: Major League Soccer, Gold Cup, Under-20 Men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and many more.