San Jose, CA (September 23rd, 2016)– The San Jose Earthquakes are fighting for their playoff lives, and surprisingly so are Sporting KC. Both team’s failures to capitalize on each-other’s dropped points in the last two weeks has kept them in a virtual deadlock, and even allowed Seattle Sounders to creep into the conversation. With six points separating the two, and two games in hand for San Jose, their attempt to get into the playoff picture get’s more and more critical. Three points is a virtual must for both teams on Saturday, but San Jose has more to lose. So what are the storylines?
Sporting KC-San Jose Earthquakes: Storylines and Predictions
Earthquakes Down To Must Win Games
The San Jose Earthquakes continue to dive deeper and deeper into “must-win” territory, and might just hit the rock bottom of that territory. A loss this week puts them nine points behind Sporting KC. Even with the two games in hand, and one more matchup against Sporting, Seattle would take a significant step forward if that was the outcome.
Sporting’s Grip on the Postseason Weakening
After winning six straight home games, Sporting KC dropped points to last place Houston Dynamo and a weakened LA Galaxy squad. With a grip on fifth that seemed firmly in place, Sporting KC were even looking towards getting a home game in the opening round. Now, it’s a question of whether or not they can hang on to a playoff spot. If Seattle and San Jose won their remaining games in hand, and ended up finishing with the same results as Sporting during the run in, Sporting would finish eighth in the West. These games against San Jose, two of their four remaining, are significant. Any dropped result lets San Jose in the back door. A win? Virtually eliminates San Jose from the postseason.
Predictions
Sporting KC Lineup
Sporting will go with what has worked in the last few games, and you can expect to see little change in their starting XI:
San Jose Earthquakes Lineup
The Earthquakes may be the only team to make a good sized shakeup. Tommy Thompson came on last week, and in seven minutes, was tied for the most key passes in the game for San Jose. Instant impact, and a good showing in games earlier in the year just might finally be enough to convince Dom Kinnear to do more with him other than rolling him out at halftime to juggle the ball like a circus act. If Tommy gets the start, there might even be a good chance that Simon Dawkins doesn’t. They could keep Cordell Cato at right wing and put Alberto Quintero on the left as well:
Predictions
While Sporting are a very attack minded team, they only have nine goals in fourteen road matches. Their inability to score on the road, combined with San Jose’s defensive record, Sporting most likely won’t get more than one goal. The question is if San Jose can get more than a goal. If somebody can score two goals, most likely they’ll win the match. Prediction? 1-1 Draw. Because I can’t see either of these teams scoring more than one.
