San Jose Earthquakes vs. Philadelphia Union – Game Preview
Saturday, September 5th, Avaya Stadium, San Jose, CA. 10:30 p.m. ET
Another MLS East-meets-West faceoff between hosts San Jose Earthquakes who seem to be finishing this Major League Soccer regular season on a high note, but still a notch away from a playoff position, and visitors Philadelphia Union who are struggling and seeing their playoff hopes fading away.
San Jose Earthquakes are currently ranked seventh in the MLS Western Conference (11-10-5) and are tied at 38 points with seventh-ranked Seattle Sounders. Aside from a single 2-1 loss at Houston Dynamo at the beginning of August, the quakes have won all subsequent games since – putting it on a four-game winning streak. With no goals conceded in these wins, San Jose will beat their own record of shutout wins if doing the same to Philadelphia tonight.
San Jose’s recently won Major League Soccer power houses, beating LA Galaxy 1-0 at home last Friday, and prior to that winning 0-2 at D.C. United.
Philadelphia Union are at the bottom of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference (7-14-6) are tied at 27 points with ninth-ranked Chicago Fire. The Union had mixed results in August, with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses during the month. Their recent 0-1 loss to New England Revolution at home was the Union’s opening game for September, and had ended a three-game lossless streak.
Adding to their troubles, Philadelphia will be playing without midfielder Cristian Maidana who is suspended until September 12th for spitting on New England’s Lee Nguyen last Saturday.
The teams met one time last MLS season, where the Philadelphia Union won at 4-2 home at PPL Park.
