The newest soccer rivalry, the Hella Cup of Northern California, saw the first leg of action Saturday night when the San Jose Earthquakes paid a visit to their Central Valley neighbor, the Sacramento Republic Football Club of the United Soccer League.
Soccer rivalries represent some of the greatest rivalries in sports. A rivalry enhances ordinary matches into epic showdowns. Some rivalries are so large that they have their own names, such as El Clasico in Spain (Barcelona/Real Madrid), Derby D’Italia in Italy (Juventus/Inter-Milan), and El Superclasico in Mexico (Club America/Chivas Guadalajara).
As soccer continues to grow in the U.S., so do the rivalries. To add fuel to the rivalry fires, MLS fans will create their own cups/trophies to present annually to the winner of the rivalry. There are currently 12 such cups for the MLS, and the Hella Cup is about to join that list.
Hella History
The Hella Cup began in a preseason friendly on March 4, 2014. The Quakes scored two goals in the closing minutes against the newly-minted Sacramento Republic FC to win the game 2-0, but Sacramento proved they had what it takes to go toe-to-toe with San Jose despite being a first-year USL club.
The Hella Cup rivalry continued to grow as each subsequent contest has been decided by one goal or less. On June 11, 2014 during the U.S. Open Cup, the Earthquakes hosted the Republic at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. While the game ended in the Quakes’ favor 2-1, SRFC drew first-blood on a Justin Braun goal at 42′. More importantly, the fan-base for Sacramento sent a message to Bay Area fans by being the more vocal and populated supporters section despite being the visitors. San Jose won the first Hella Cup while Sacramento went on to win the 2014 USL championship.
On February 21st, 2015, the Quakes squeaked out a 1-0 win at SRFC’s Bonney Field, an incident which saw the San Jose Ultras being given an ultimatum to leave or risk jail, stoking the rivalry flames even more.
In the 2015 U.S. Open Cup, the Quakes hosted SRFC and found themselves down two goals going into the final 20 minutes. Chris Wondolowski equalized with a brace in the 74th and 79th minutes, and Quakes went on to win in a shootout to secure their second Hella Cup, much to the chagrin of the numerous Republic fans who made the trip to San Jose.
A Hella Bright Future
San Jose’s quest for a third Hella Cup, which just got its own twitter handle a few weeks ago, began on Saturday at Bonney Field. The Quakes again found themselves down early in the match when SRFC’s Mac Pridham scored in the 8th minute. Sacramento held the lead until two Quincy Amarikwa goals in the second half (51′ & 86′) secured the 2-1 win for San Jose.
Only time will tell if San Jose will play Sacramento again this season. Sacramento will have to win their 2nd and 3rd round Open Cup matches to set up a June 15th match.
For now the Hella Cup is a novelty as the two teams only share a similar geographic location. However, once Sacramento is admitted as an official MLS club–their entrance into MLS is just a matter of time–the Hella Cup will represent a battle of MLS dominance in Northern California and could become one of the premiere rivalries in U.S. soccer.
If you are a fan of soccer rivalries, get ready for some hella good times!
