San Jose Earthquake Stats
2021 Record: 3-7-2 WLT, 11 points for 0.92 PPG
Goals: 14 for, 22 allowed, -8 differential
Power Rankings: San Jose #23 (-), Rapids #8 (+1)
Last Result: 2-2 tie against Minnesota United
Hey, uh, I don’t know if you know this, but, uh… the Colorado Rapids are sitting pretty. A solid point off of the Seattle Sounders and a 2-0 win over Minnesota United means that we’re sitting comfortably in fourth place with a game or two in hand. Even without Sam Vines (who helped get a Concacaf Gold Cup group win over Haiti with his goal) and Jonathan Lewis due to USMNT duty, and without Jack Price due to injury, we did really well against a good Minnesota team. After taking a bit of a break, the Rapids resume the season with another home game against the Earthquakes. We’re on a pretty hot streak ourselves — and looking to keep the momentum going — but will the visitors pose a threat?
In my humble opinion, no. San Jose has not changed significantly since last season. They barely squeaked into the playoffs and immediately got knocked out by Sporting Kansas City. Now, they sit four points behind the playoff line in 11th in the West. The Earthquakes haven’t won a game since May 7th. They had a fantastic start with three wins in four games, but since then, haven’t gotten a win. That isn’t something that should scare the burgundy team.
San Jose has been in need of a pretty comprehensive refactor, but after qualifying for the playoffs in 2020 they primarily chose to stay the course. Head coach Matias Almeyda has had a lot of criticism but after getting them into the playoffs, but they decided to stick with him. They haven’t had much of a roster change either, loaning a lot of players to USL teams and signing a few new players but nothing major. They even convinced Chris Wondolowski to stick around for another season, who has managed to score twice this season.
As always, I will say that no game is ever a guaranteed win. But, I too will say that this should be a comfortable win. We handled Minnesota really well without two of our guaranteed starters and one of our most reliable substitutes. If Price is back, we should be able to handle San Jose easily. Even without, I still think we’ll be able to get three points. Keep the goals coming and the gap between ourselves and SJ should get even bigger.
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