San Jose Earthquakes vs. Seattle Sounders FC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Seattle Sounders FC
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 22
Avaya Stadium — San Jose
July 25 - 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Seattle Sounders FC appear to making yet another second-half surge, and head into this midweek tile at Avaya Stadium unbeaten in their last four after a 2-0 win over Cascadia rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday.

The San Jose Earthquakes, meanwhile, needed a Week 21 bye to refocus and assess after back-to-back losses and 10 games without a win.

The Sounders are unbeaten in their last five matches against the Earthquakes (2W-3D). Their two wins in that time matches their total from their previous 11 league games against San Jose, per Opta.

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San Jose Earthquakes

It seemed San Jose (2-11-6) had possibly turned a corner with three consecutive draws, but consecutive losses at Portland and Montreal followed. Now the Quakes return to Avaya Stadium where they have back-to-back must win games against Western Conference foes Seattle and Real Salt Lake.

On Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the Quakes played Manchester United to a scoreless draw with 16-year-old Gilbert Fuentes becoming the youngest player ever to appear for San Jose.

“We came out well,” Mikael Stahre said. “I think we played quite disciplined and compact, but also created quite a few chances. I’m pretty happy with the performance.”

• Suspended: M - Anibal Godoy
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D - Kevin Partida (knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: F - Quincy Amarikwa (rib injury), M - Anibal Godoy (undisclosed injury), M - Fatai Alashe (groin injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: Andrew Tarbell — Nick Lima, Florian Jungwirth, Harold Cummings, Shea Salinas — Jahmir Hyka, Fatai Alashe, Jackson Yueill, Vako — Danny Hoesen, Chris Wondolowski

• Notes: Andrew Tarbell has saved just 59.8% of shots this season, the fourth-lowest percentage of any keeper with at least 10 appearances this year. … The Earthquakes have now conceded in 24 consecutive MLS games (4W-13L-7D), the longest active streak in MLS and two short of the franchise record set in 1999. They are also winless in their last 10 games (6L-4D), their longest such streak since 2014.

Seattle Sounders FC

After back-to-back road draws at New England and Atlanta, Seattle (5-9-5) returned to the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field Saturday to defeat the Whitecaps, 2-0. It was the second clean sheet in the last four games without defeat as the Sounders have conceded just twice during that span.

Nico Lodeiro opened the scoring with a 5th minute penalty after Doneil Henry handled in the box and the Uruguayan netted his second in the 31st minute on a shot from distance that fooled Whitecaps goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic. The Sounders' newest Designated Player, Raul Ruidiaz, also made his MLS debut, coming off the bench for the final 29 minutes.

“I thought the team controlled tempo really well. That was the big plus for me,” Brian Schmetzer said. “It was obviously helpful to score an early goal and then get a second one before halftime allowed us to control tempo the way we wanted to.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: D - Nouhou Tolo, D - Jordy Delem, M - Osvaldo Alonso
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: F - Jordan Morris (torn ACL), M - Handwalla Bwana (right midfoot sprain); QUESTIONABLE: D - Roman Torres (left ankle sprain), M - Victor Rodriguez (undisclosed injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Nouhou Tolo — Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan — Harry Shipp, Nicolas Lodeiro, Osvaldo Alonso — Raul Ruidiaz

• Notes: Lodeiro’s brace last weekend made him the third Sounders player with multiple MLS games with 2+ goals since the start of the 2016 season. … The Sounders are 2W-2D in their last four MLS matches, conceding just two goals in that time. They had 12 goals in the previous eight league games (2W-5L-1D).

All-Time Series

• Overall: San Jose Earthquakes 10 wins, 26 goals … Seattle Sounders FC 8 wins, 27 goals … 5 draws
• At San Jose: Earthquakes 5 wins, 14 goals … Sounders 1 win, 7 goals … 4 draws
• Last meeting at San Jose: San Jose Earthquakes 1, Seattle Sounders FC 1 (April 8, 2017)

Officials

Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistant Referees: Michael Kampmeinhert, Andrew Bigelow
4th Official: Hilario Grajeda
VAR: Alex Chilowicz