Tag: LA Galaxy

The score says it all the La Galaxy just gets by the San Jose Earthquakes at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson CA on Sun Apr 21, 2024 (San Jose Earthquakes X photo)

By William Espy

The San Jose Earthquakes found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference with just three points through their first eight games as they entered Match Day 10 and visited the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California for the 100th California Clasico.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy were second in the conference behind only the Vancouver Whitecaps entering the night and hoped to regain first place in the West. They have struggled at home so far this season though, as they were 1-0-2 in their first three home games. The Galaxy came away with a close 4-3 victory over the Earthquakes.

Earthquakes Starting XI: Yarbrough, Costa, Rodrigues, Beason, Akapo, Tsakiris, Gruezo, Yueill, Pellegrino, Judd, Espinoza

Galaxy Starting XI: McCarthy, Cerillo, Yoshida, Caceres, Aude, Puig, Brugman, Delgado, Pec, Joveljic, Paintsil

In the 7th minute, the Galaxy got the first booking of the night when Joseph Paintsil was shown a yellow card for a foul on Vitor Costa. After the foul, referee Rosendo Mendoza was clearly not pleased with the foul and was fairly animated during his conversation with the group of Galaxy players talking to him.

In the 10th minute, the Galaxy got their first quality scoring chance of the game when they methodically passed the ball around before the ball was eventually headed to Gabriel Pec who shot it just over the net.

In the 14th minute, Pec scored his second of the season when William Yarbrough came out of the net to attempt to prevent him from getting a shot off, but the ball bounced over the Earthquakes’ goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

As a result, the Galaxy had a 1-0 lead early in the match. In the 21st minute, Mendoza initiated a video assistant referee review for a handball inside the penalty area against the Earthquakes. After the review, a penalty was awarded to the Galaxy due to Niko Tsakiris’s elbow making contact with the ball as part of the Galaxy’s set piece.

Paintsil shot the ball toward the bottom right of the net, while Yarbrough stayed in the middle and it was 2-0 in favor of Los Angeles. Halfway through the first half, things looked bleak for the Earthquakes already. It didn’t take long for things to get even worse though, in the 30th minute Painstil took a corner kick and crossed it directly to the head of Maya Yoshida who increased LA’s lead to 3-0.

The Quakes would get themselves back into the game as Cristian Espinoza whipped it in on a free kick. After hitting a defender’s head, it bounced to Rodrigues who headed it into the netting and made it 3-1 in the 32nd minute. In the 45th minute, Espinoza was called for a foul and shown a yellow card, San Jose’s first of the game. At halftime, LA led 3-1 over the Earthquakes and San Jose had a lot of work to do if they wanted to have a chance to walk away with a point.

Preston Judd wouldn’t come out for the second half, as Jeremy Ebobisse was substituted on in his place. A shot from Dejan Joveljic got past Yarbrough in the 51st minute, but a defender was able to get back and clear the ball before it crossed the goal line and prevented the Galaxy from taking a 4-1 lead.

In the 55th minute, Carlos Gruezo became the second member of the Earthquakes to be booked during the game following a challenge on Riqui Puig. Shortly afterward, a breakout pass from their defensive third gave the Galaxy a strong attacking opportunity and Puig scored to make it 4-1in favor of LA.

In response Luchi Gonzalez made his second substitutions of the night, bringing Jack Skahan and Benjamin Kikanovic on for Amahl Pellegrino and Tsakiris.

Just a minute later Kikanovic, who had just been substituted into the match, gave the team a spark with a header goal to reduce the Galaxy’s lead to 4-2 with just over 30 minutes remaining. A pointless slide tackle by Vitor Costa resulted in the Quakes’ third yellow card of the night in the 64th minute.

This led to a couple of substitutions for the Galaxy who took a more defensive, counter-attacking approach. In the 69th minute, things changed drastically. Ebobisse got in past the defense, and Eriq Zavaleta attempted to challenge him from behind.

After tripping Ebobisse up, Zavaletta was shown a straight red card and San Jose was awarded a penalty shot. Not only did the Earthquakes have an opportunity to make it a single-goal deficit, they were going to have a man advantage for the remainder of the game.

Ebobisse was awarded for his effort and took the penalty himself which he scored to make it a 4-3 game. In the 76th minute, Skahan was booked with a yellow card after accidentally catching Yoshida in the face with his boot while attempting to play the ball.

In the 81st minute, John McCarthy made an incredible save to deny Kikanovic who nearly scored to tie the game up. In the 88th minute, the Galaxy launched a counter-attacking opportunity but it was called offside as the attacker passed it too late otherwise, it could’ve easily become a 5-3 game.

With eight minutes of stoppage time, the Earthquakes had quite a bit of time to tie things up. A shot from Tanner Beason in the 92nd minute was one of their best scoring opportunities however it deflected off of a defender’s head in front of the goal. Despite applying a considerable amount of pressure on the Galaxy, the Earthquakes wouldn’t be able to tie it up and San Jose walked away without a point after a 4-3 loss.

San Jose’s Niko Tsakiris attempted a counter attack during the California Classico at Stanford Stadium on Saturday Sep 24, 2022. (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

PALO ALTO–Chicharito ended up getting the last laugh in the Bay Area.

The Mexican striker recorded a brace as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 in this season’s installment of the California Classico on Saturday evening at Stanford Stadium.

San Jose has three of its past four matches with two left to go in the regular season. Los Angeles has won two matches in a row and has points in five of its past six matches.

Before the match, a big banner ran along the end zone that depicted two clowns in an attempt to poke fun at the Galaxy.

17-year old ‘Quakes homegrown player Nico Tsakiris made his first start of the season at midfielder for interim head coach Alex Covelo. Tsakiris replaced Jamiro Monteiro who was out on international duty. Defender Miguel Trauco made his ‘Quakes debut in the 59th minute when he subbed in for Tanner Beason.

“Fantastic, that’s why he played,” said Covelo when asked to evaluate the play of Tsakiris. “He is a player that is going to be the future of San Jose, MLS, and maybe Europe. That’s why we put him in. We didn’t put him in because I just woke up this morning and said let’s put in Niko. I think it was a good opportunity for him and he deserves it. He did well.”

Los Angeles (13-12-7-46 points) drew first blood in the 12th minute. Julián Araujo sent in a cross into the middle of the box where Chicharito deked out Rodrigues and then beat ‘Quakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski with a left footed shot for his team leading 16th goal of the season.

The Galaxy doubled its lead in the 42nd minute. A turnover by San Jose led to Gastón Brugman blasting a shot from the edge of the 18 that hit the bounced underneath the crossbar and into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

Los Angeles scored its third unanswered goal with Chicharito’s second goal of the game in the 69th minute. Efraín Álvarez threaded a ball through the two defenders that allowed Chicharito to sneak behind the defense and seal the deal with his 17th goal of the season.

San Jose (7-15-10-31 points) attempted a comeback three minutes later when Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond tripped up Cristian Espinoza inside the box for a penalty kick. Espinoza was on a mini breakaway after receiving a brilliant pass from Tsakiris. Bond had no other option but to take down Espinoza.

“As a No. 10, and it being my first start, you want to try and create as much as you can but also keep it simple. The opportunity came and it just felt right. We ended up improving and scoring from it, which was helpful for the group and our momentum. The opportunity was there so I took it,” Tsakiris said.

Espinoza cashed in the penalty in the 74th minute with a shot to the lower right corner of the net for his seventh goal of the season.

The Earthquakes scored on the final play of the game off of a set piece to make the score look respectable in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Espinoza sent a corner kick out the edge of D when Trauco kicked it into the middle of the box where Nathan one-touched the ball off of a defender’s foot for his third goal of the season and fifth in a ‘Quakes uniform.

“The atmosphere was spectacular. The team pushing hard in the second half was also due to the atmosphere, and the fans who came out to support and push the team to win until the end,” said Covelo.

Bond finished the match with one save on three shots on target to earn the win. Marcinkowski made one save on four shots on target in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with four corner kicks. Los Angeles had six.

The attendance for the match was 44,200, sixth most of any MLS match during the 2022 season.

San Jose is now 28-35-16 all-time vs. LA Galaxy, including a 5-2-2 record at Stanford Stadium.

The Earthquakes are now 7-11-7 in MLS play under Covelo.

UP NEXT: San Jose plays its final home match of the season on Saturday 10/1 when they host Minnesota United at 7:00pm at Pay Pal Park.

The San Jose Earthquakes celebrate its 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the California Classico at Dignity Health Park on Wed July 13, 2022. (Reuters)

by Marko Ukalovic

CARSON, Calif. — Call it torture, call it whatever you want, the San Jose Earthquakes exorcised their demons on the road.

San Jose scored three goals in the first half for the first time this season and then held on by the skin of their teeth to defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-2 and earned their first win on the road in the 94th installment of the California Classico on Wednesday evening at Dignity Health Park.

San Jose has beat Los Angeles in back-to-back Classicos in LA for the first time ever. They have points in four of their last five matches and sit five points out of seventh place, which the Galaxy presently occupy. Los Angeles has lost back-to-back matches and have conceded three goals in consecutive games.

San Jose (5-7-7-22 points) featured the return of midfielder Jamiro Monteiro back into the starting lineup for interim head coach Alex Covelo.

“It’s truly special (to win at the California Classico), I was talking to Chris Leitch before the game today that the last we were here all together was in 2007,” Covelo said.

Los Angeles (8-8-3-27 points) was without their leading goal scorer Chicharito (seven) and Marky Delgado due to injury.

The Earthquakes drew first blood early in the game when Julián Araujo tripped up Benji Kikanovic inside the box in the 12th minute drawing a penalty kick. Cristian Espinoza cashed in the PK a minute later when he beat Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond with a right footed shot into the lower right corner for his fifth goal of the season.

San Jose doubled its lead a minute later. Taking advantage of a bad back pass by Los Angeles in their own zone, Monteiro found Jeremy Ebobisse on the left wing. The native of Paris, France blasted a right footed shot to the same lower right corner for his team leading 11th goal of the season in the 14th minute.

Ebobisse is tied for second in the MLS with three other players with 11 goals.

The ‘Quakes scored their third unanswered goal of the half in the 40th minute. A nice give and go between Marcos Lopez and Kikanovic resulted in Lopez with a brilliant deke out on Bond and his left footed shot glided down the goal line inside the right post for his first goal of the season.

Los Angeles best scoring chance came in the first 45 minutes came at the 23rd minute mark. Samuel Grandsir’s point-blank shot from the left of the net was knocked away by ‘Quakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.

The Galaxy opened the second half by cutting into the ‘Quakes lead. Kévin Cabral set up Dejan Joveljic, who roofed a shot top shelf beyond the reach of Marcinkowski for his seventh goal of the season in the 48th minute.

“The numbers speak for themselves, we are still giving up too many goals. We need to work on that and clean that up,” said Covelo.

Los Angeles controlled the play in the second half as San Jose sat back and played a prevent style of play that almost cost them the three points.

Joveljic made for an intense finish when he scored his second goal of the match late in the second half. Douglas Costa found Joveljic just outside the box. Joveljic faked out two different ‘Quake defenders before depositing the ball into the upper left corner of the net for his brace in the 88th minute.

Joveljic, who took over the team lead with his eighth goal of the season, has scored seven goals in his last six matches after only scoring three in his first 25.

Marcinkowski finished the match stopping eight of the 10 shots he faced, as he was the best player for San Jose in the second half, to earn his fifth win of the season. Bond made one save on four shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished the match with eight corner kicks. Los Angeles had 11.

Los Angeles has scored 11 goals in the final 15 minutes of a match this season. They are second in MLS in that category.

San Jose has won five of its last eight visits to the Galaxy in MLS play (5-3-0) after winning only five of its first 30 regular season visits. The Earthquakes won, 2-1, at Dignity Health Sports Park in their last visit last August.

It was the sixth time this season LA has conceded three goals in a match, losing all six. The Galaxy have a record of 8-2-3 in the 13 matches in which they’ve held opponents under three goals.

With his 11th goal of the season, Ebobisse now has eight goals in eight career MLS starts against Los Angeles. He’s failed to score only once in his eight MLS starts against LA.

UP NEXT: San Jose returns home to host the Houston Dynamo on Sunday 7/17 at 6:30pm at Pay Pal Park.

San Jose Earthquakes edges the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on Fri Aug 20, 2021 (@SJEarthquakes photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

CARSON, Calif–Don’t look now, but there is talk of playoffs in the South Bay.

The San Jose Earthquakes received an own goal late in the match to defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 on Friday night in the third installment of the California Classico on Friday evening at Dignity Health Sports Park.

San Jose is on a season long 10 match unbeaten streak (3-0-7) and with 26 points jumped into the seventh place and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Los Angeles have lost two matches in a row and currently sit in third place in the conference with 35 points.

Los Angeles (11-8-2) conceded the game winning goal in the 71st minute when Chofis received a ball near the right end line. Chofis made a nice move around Sega Couliably as he dribbled in towards the net. His shot deflected off the leg of fullback Niko Hämäläinen into the back of the net for an own goal.

“That is the identity I try to transmit to this group and other teams I have coached,” said Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda. “There is a big commitment for each other, and there is a sense of belonging that they earn day-to-day when they put on the jersey.”

San Jose (6-7-8) controlled the pace of play throughout the match, especially in the first half when they had quality scoring chances that were either stoned away by Galaxy goalie Jonathan Bond or the crossbar.

Forward Jeremy Ebobisse had his best game as an Earthquake in just his fourth appearance. He had back to back point blank chances inside the box in the first minute of stoppage time in the first half. Both times Bond came up big, committing highway robbery on Ebobisse to keep the first 45 minutes scoreless.

The Earthquakes came out possessed in the second half as two minutes in off a corner kick, Ebobisse had a header hit off the crossbar and the subsequent rebound by Tanner Beason was stopped by Bond.

Ebobisse was not to be denied in this match. In the 52minute, Chofis sent a ball down the right wing where Luciano Abecasis settled it and made a perfect cross over to Ebobisse as the talented striker headed the ball past Bond into the right corner of the net for his first goal in a Quakes uniform.

“It’s easy to get demoralized in those moments,” said Ebobisee about his earlier chances in the match. “It’s also part of the growth in the development of a striker is being relentless and understanding that if you’re missing chances, if the goalie is making good saves, there’s another chance that’s coming your way. I was happy I was able to meet the quality of the cross that came in with a quality finish as well.”

In eight appearances against the Galaxy, Ebobisse has scored seven goals.

The Galaxy scored the equalizer in the 65th minute off a set piece play. Victor Vazquez’s corner kick knuckleballed just inside the left post as Quakes goalie JT Marcinkowski’s diving attempt was not enough to keep the ball out of the net. It was Vasquez’s first goal of the season.

Almeyda tactically went defensive in the final 15 minutes of play when he inserted fullback Paul Marie in the 81st minute for Chofis. A moved that paid off as the Galaxy, despite many corner kicks late, weren’t able to earn a point in the match.

“The mentality of the team to go find that game winner, that symbolizes what this team is capable of. To go on the road in the Cali Classico against an LA Galaxy team that is very strong, near the top of the table (in the Western Conference). To show the resilience, not put our heads down, not allow them to capitalize, equalizing the game shows what this team can be if we’re into it for 90 minutes,” Ebobisee said.

Marcinkowski finished with three saves on four shots to earn his sixth victory of the season. Bond, who arguably was the man of the match, made five saves on six shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had six corner kicks. Los Angeles had 12.

The Quakes first unbeaten stretch of 10+ matches in a single season since July-Oct. 2005 (11-0-3). The 10-match unbeaten streak is the third longest in Quakes history (2005-14; 2001-12).

The Earthquakes extended their unbeaten streak on the road to six matches (2-0-4). It marks the club’s longest unbeaten streak away from home since July-Oct. 2005 (6-0-0)

San Jose is now 27-24-16 all-time against the LA Galaxy, including an 9-22-6 record away from home.

The Quakes have now allowed one or fewer goals in nine consecutive matches, conceding a total of seven in that span.

Chofis recorded his second assist on the season on Ebobisse’s goal.

UP NEXT: San Jose returns home to host the Colorado Rapids on Saturday 9/4 at 7:00pm at Pay Pal Park.

The Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond looked about as surprised as the San Jose Earthquakes offense did standing in front of the net after Bond stopped a shot at Pay Pal Park in San Jose on Sat Jun 26, 2021 (@LAGalaxy photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Chicharito scored two goals and the Los Angeles Galaxy cruised to a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday evening at Pay Pal Park in the second installment of the California Classico.

Los Angeles have won three out of its last four matches, including two against San Jose. The Quakes have lost two matches in a row and are winless in their last four.

This was the first game where Pay Pal Park has been at full capacity for attendance since the 2019 season.

The Galaxy (7-3-0) drew first blood early in the second half. Samuel Grandsir serviced the ball from the right side into the middle where an unmarked Chicharito raced in and one-timed the ball past Quakes goalie JT Marcinkowski for his ninth goal of the season at the 11th minute.

Despite having a 60%-40% edge in possession, San Jose (3-7-1) weren’t able to generate any quality scoring chances in the first 45 minutes of the match.

Los Angeles generated quality scoring chances with counter attacks that had San Jose on its heels during the first half including a shot from Grandsir from the left side of the box that Marcinkowski saved from going into the back of the net in the 41st minute.

“I think the team looked different compared to the last game,” said Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda. “They uncovered their identity. We keep making the same mistakes where we have to restart in the middle (of the pitch).”

San Jose had a chance to score the equalizer in the 49th minute but Chofis’s shot hit off the right post.

The Galaxy doubled its lead a minute later on an almost identical goal. Once again Chicharito was left unmarked by the Quakes defense and one-timed a shot after receiving a centering pass from Kévin Cabral for his team leading 10th goal of the season at the 50th minute.

Almeyda inserted 17-year sensation Cade Cowell from off the bench in the 54th minute and he immediately provided a spark for the anemic offense.

In the 57th minute Chofis had the ball inside the box, did a spin-o-rama before firing a shot just to the outside of the night on the right side. Then two minutes later Jackson Yueill’s shot from 15 yards out was saved by Galaxy goalie Jonathan Bond.

To add insult to injury, the Galaxy received its third goal thanks to a gift from Florian Jungwirth. Cameron Dunbar serviced a ball into the middle and the ball hit off the foot of Jungwith and rolled into an empty net in the 70th minute.

The Quakes spoiled Bond’s shutout bid in the 82nd minute when Chofis found Cowell just inside the D box and the sophomore forward beat Bond with a left footed to the lower left corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

San Jose broke a 258 minute score-less draught with Cowell’s goal. The last time they had scored in a match was against Sporting KC on 5/22/21 when Chofis scored the opening goal in the fourth minute.

Bond made two saves on three shots to earn the victory. Marcinkowski made one save on three shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose had five corner kicks. LA had two.

San Jose was issued a yellow card at the 40th minute when Almeyda kicked a ball back onto the field before a free kick.

UP NEXT: The Quakes travel out to St.Paul to began a three-game road trip as the take on Minnesota FC on Saturday 7/3 at 5:00pm at Allianz Field.