The San Jose Earthquakes are playing their best soccer of the season.
After qualifying for the Leagues Cup for the first time in franchise history, the Quakes (4-19-2) pummeled Liga MX’s Club Necaxa 5-0 on Thursday to advance to the Round of 16 against SoCal rival LAFC at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
San Jose split the two-game season series with LAFC but suffered its worst loss of the season the last time the teams met in June, leading to the firing of former coach Luchi Gonzalez days after the defeat.
However, current coach Ian Russell said the Quakes have found their groove over the last few weeks and are ready to compete with one of the better teams in MLS.
“The group’s confident,” Russell said in a news conference on Monday. “We feel like we’ve played three or four really good games in a row. We just can’t be afraid of anybody. We can’t have any fear. It’s a big club, good team. But we feel like we can play well against them.
“We’re just going to go in there and do our best to get three points.”
LAFC has consistently been one of the league’s top teams this season, sitting second in the Western Conference with a 14-5-5 record.
Winger Denis Bouanga and midfielder Mateusz Bogusz form a high-scoring duo that has combined for 29 goals this season. Bouanga and Bogusz torched the Quakes in the June matchup, combining for three goals and three assists.
Midfielder Cristian Olivera is a force on both ends of the field, and newly signed French striker Olivier Giroud is expected to be available for LAFC on Tuesday.
Russell said containing LAFC’s goal scorers will be key to the matchup.
“They got some dangerous players in Bouanga, Olivera, Bogusz,” he said. “We need to limit the amount of times that they can counter us, so we need to keep the ball. We can’t lose it in bad areas.
“We kind of thought (Giroud) would be available. It’s always good to play against players of this quality, so we expect him to come on late in the game. I doubt he will start but you never know.”
The Quakes have found an offensive rhythm in the last three games that they weren’t able to tap into early in the season.
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Forward Jeremy Jeremy Ebobisse had arguably his best game of the season against Necaxa, scoring two goals on three shots that were all on target. Captain Jackson Yueill played all 90 minutes on Thursday and scored his first goal of the season.
San Jose has scored seven goals in the last three matches – the best three-game scoring stretch this season. In July, the Quakes scored four goals total across seven games.
San Jose has also been better defensively during this three-game stretch, conceding just three goals.
“It’s been a tough season, but it’s been a good tournament for us,” Russell said. I feel like we’re not done yet. I told the guys, ‘Don’t be satisfied with just getting to this round.’ We need to go and win three more games.”
