Real Salt Lake and the San Jose Earthquakes face off for the second time this season on Saturday night in a match with significant playoff implications. The Utah-based side could sew up a postseason spot while the Quakes fight to stave off their seemingly inevitable elimination from playoff contention.

The same, but different

In a way, RSL and the Earthquakes find themselves in very similar positions. With a four-game winless skid and without a single goal in its last three matches, RSL is hungry to right its currently listing ship.  San Jose also finds itself in a lengthy down stretch, winless in its last seven, and only a single win since mid-July.

But when the two teams meet at Avaya Stadium on Saturday night, their post-season prospects—and accordingly, their motivation—could not be more different.

With three regular season games remaining, visiting RSL finds itself in a position to clinch a spot in Major League Soccer’s postseason with a win in combination with a Portland Timbers loss to the Colorado Rapids. A postseason spot would be the side’s eighth playoff berth in the last nine seasons. After taking home a win from San Jose last year, a confident Claret-and-Cobalt are likely to come out on the front foot.

San Jose, on the other hand, finds itself in dire straits.  Stuck on 34 points and languishing in ninth position in the Western Conference, seven points below the red line, predictive models give the home team no more than a 1-in-50 chance to prolong their season past the league’s Decision Day on October 23.  With postseason competition seemingly an impossibility (or at least not a goal they can accomplish without help), the Earthquakes may be forced to play for pride with the possibility of taking on a spoiler role.

Juan Manuel Martinez (center) dribbles past Simon Dawkins (left) and Jordan Stewart (right) in a July 22, 2016 match between Real Salt Lake and the San Jose Earthquakes at Rio Tinto Stadium. | Photo:: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Juan Manuel Martinez (center) dribbles past Simon Dawkins (left) and Jordan Stewart (right) in a July 22, 2016 match between Real Salt Lake and the San Jose Earthquakes at Rio Tinto Stadium. | Photo:: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Getting while the getting is good

While the Quakes may look like easy pickings given their poor season record and lengthy list of injuries, RSL still cannot take a road match against a conference foe for granted. RSL has already been surprised twice in its last four games, drawing at home against a depleted Los Angeles Galaxy squad in a 3-3 thriller (Juan Manuel Martinez netted RSL’s equalizer on the final kick of the game). Then they suffered their first home loss of the year against Western Conference bottom-feeder Houston Dynamo in a 1-0 decision marked by a critical turnover that promptly led to the visitors’ lone goal.

But RSL would do well to take points where points are most readily available. Closing the season with matches against teams currently in playoff position—at home against Sporting Kansas City on October 16 before a Decision Day visit to the Seattle Sounders—may mean that points will be at a premium in the season’s home stretch. In spite of Real’s perfect record against SKC this year, San Jose may be Salt Lake’s most reasonable target. The teams played to a 1-1 draw earlier this year at Rio Tinto Stadium, as Chris Wondolowski’s ninth minute goal was nullified by Luke Mulholland’s second-half strike.

Saturday’s match kicks off at 10:30 EDT.

VAVEL Logo
About the author