Galaxy Looks to Past for Some Inspiration
The situation is simple for the San Jose Earthquakes. Either they win their four remaining Major League Soccer matches, plus have the Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution lose the rest of their games, or they don’t qualify for the playoffs.
Further complicating matters for Coach Lothar Osiander’s squad is the fact that the first two of San Jose’s games are against the Galaxy--tonight at Spartan Stadium and Wednesday at the Rose Bowl.
The Earthquakes are a woeful 5-15-2 overall against Los Angeles in five years of MLS play, so the odds are not in their favor.
On the other hand, San Jose has lost five home games in a row, tying a club record, so its luck might be due to change tonight.
Then again, the Galaxy is coming off consecutive losses to the Chicago Fire in MLS and U.S. Open Cup play, and Coach Sigi Schmid is in no mood to see his team lose again, especially to as weak an opponent as San Jose.
After Los Angeles had been knocked out of the Open Cup by a 2-1 semifinal loss to the Fire on Wednesday, Schmid was grim-faced.
“What can you say?” he asked. “You have a 1-0 lead and you’re playing a man up, it’s a game you should not give away and we ended up giving it away. It’s an extreme low and it’s obviously very disappointing.”
The Earthquakes are coming off an emotional 1-0 victory over D.C. United on the road, a result that eliminated the league’s defending champion from playoff contention.
They will benefit, too, by the fact that the Galaxy will be without winger Cobi Jones, who has accumulated too many yellow cards, and defender Robin Fraser, who was red-carded in last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Fire in Chicago.
In addition, the Earthquakes hope to see Ronald Cerritos, San Jose’s all-time leading goal scorer, return for at least part of tonight’s game. The El Salvador winger has played in only nine matches this season because of a recurring thigh injury.
“I would like to use him off the bench a little bit,” Osiander said.
Said Cerritos: “I feel 95% better and I expect to play in at least our last three matches. I think we can end this season on a positive note.”
