New on Sports Illustrated: Galaxy-Earthquakes Preview

Yony Gonzales could be in line to make his LA Galaxy debut on Saturday, after head coach Barros Schelotto confirmed the winger will feature against San Jose Earthquakes.

Gonzales signed on loan from Portuguese giants Benfica in August, though has not yet made his first MLS appearance.

However, Schelotto will be have the Colombian available for selection in an all-California clash between the bottom two sides in the Western Conference.

"He will be ready with us, we'll decide how many minutes he's ready for," Gonzales told reporters.

"We need to think about the Wednesday game as well, he has to be ready for Portland Timbers too. He's ready, he's going to do very well with us.

"He's the kind of player that we need. He can play out wide or up top. The best thing is that we have options, we have a lot of games coming out so everyone has to be ready."

While the Galaxy are on a three-match losing run, San Jose ended a nine-game winless streak as they came from behind to beat Los Angeles FC 2-1 on Sunday.

Experienced defender Robert Salinas came on from the bench to score San Jose's 80th-minute equaliser and start the comeback, and the 34-year-old pinned the Quakes' poor run on a congested fixture list.

"I mean, the amount of games we've had is something I've never seen in my career. And so, energy levels, it's difficult to maintain," he said.

"It's difficult to get yourself up every three days for another game when you're sore and bruised."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Jose Earthquakes – Cristian Espinosa

Salinas and Chris Wondolowski snatched the goals to lift San Jose against LAFC, but their efforts were teed up by Espinosa, who has registered five assists in total in 2020.

LA Galaxy – Cristian Pavon

In what has been a disappointing campaign for the Galaxy, Argentine winger Pavon has been a bright spark. He has six goals in all, though the most recent of his strikes came in a Los Angeles derby win over LAFC on September 7.

KEY OPTA FACTS

•San Jose earned a scoreless draw against the Galaxy in the last meeting between the sides, also at Earthquakes Stadium.

•The Galaxy have collected four points in two meetings with San Jose this season after losing both meetings between the sides in the 2019 season.

•Two of the Earthquakes' three wins this season have come after trailing in the 80th minute.

•The Galaxy have lost three straight matches, scoring just once, after a six-match unbeaten run (W4 D2) that saw them score 12 times.

•Despite their comeback win on Sunday, San Jose's 39 goals conceded after 14 matches are still four more than any other team at this stage of a season in MLS history.

•The Galaxy have collected just two points (W0 D2 L5) in the seven matches in which Javier Hernandez has played this season while they have earned 13 points (W4 D1 L1) in the six matches he has missed.

October 03, 2020 at 04:20AM
Galaxy-Earthquakes Preview