Seattle Sounders vs San Jose Earthquakes

Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes are set to face off against each other in a mouth-watering Major League Soccer fixture at Lumen Field.

Desperate to make amends for last season’s failed attempt to reach MLS playoffs, Seattle Sounders have hit the ground running this term, racking up a decent-looking 67% unbeaten ratio across the opening 15 rounds (W8, D2, L5) to move to the top of the Western Conference. However, manager Brian Schmetzer wouldn’t mind a bit more consistency from his lads after overseeing partial success across Seattle’s last five MLS fixtures (W2, L3). Four of those five results (wins/losses) yielded a narrow one-goal margin at full-time, suggesting a keenly-contested encounter could be on the cards. Adding to this sentiment, five of Seattle’s last six meetings with San Jose in all competitions have seen the sides separated by a FT margin of under 1.5 goals (W2, D2, L2).

Meanwhile, San Jose Earthquakes have been up the creek without a paddle lately, going winless in six of their last seven competitive outings (D2, L4) despite only drawing a blank once in this sequence. Indeed, action on either side of the pitch has been San Jose’s hallmark, with their last six MLS matches witnessing both teams on the scoresheet. Yet San Jose will be keen to draw first blood this time around after losing all four away league games in which they’ve conceded the opening goal this season. Achieving that feat may prove rather arduous, considering 67% of their away MLS goals netted in 2023 have come beyond halftime (10/15). Before jumping the gun, you should know they’ve only conceded two first-half goals on their seven MLS travels this calendar year.