California foes Los Angeles FC and the San Jose Earthquakes will battle for a place in the Leagues Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday at BMO Stadium.
The Black and Gold advanced to the round of 16 thanks to a 2-0 victory over Austin FC, while the Quakes demolished Necaxa by a score of 5-0.
Match preview
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Los Angeles FC are used to playing in must-win situations, and that experience served them well in the round of 32 as they went ahead after 11 minutes and rarely looked in danger throughout the contest.
In typical Steve Cherundolo fashion, his side were happy to sustain pressure against the Verde and Black and hit them on the counter, scoring on two of their three targeted efforts despite only having 34% of the possession.
This team have never lost a Leagues Cup match in Los Angeles, winning all of their knockout stage encounters played at BMO Stadium last season by a combined margin of 11-1.
Their round of 32 triumph ended a three-match winless run for them across all competitions at BMO Stadium versus Major League Soccer (MLS) opponents.
LA have only dropped four points in the 2024 MLS regular season when scoring the opening goal, with that lone defeat occurring in Commerce City against the Colorado Rapids in late March (3-2).
They have never lost to an MLS side in the knockout portion of this tournament, claiming a comfortable 4-0 victory at home to Real Salt Lake at this same stage a year ago.
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One of the most unexpected things we saw in the Leagues Cup round of 32 was the San Jose Earthquakes exposing Necaxa for five goals in a thorough beatdown at PayPal Park.
Even before an Alan Montes red card gave them a man advantage late in the opening half, the Goonies were already 4-0 up, scoring more goals on Friday than they had in their previous eight competitive fixtures combined (four).
On Tuesday, Ian Russell has a chance to win consecutive games for the first time since being named interim head coach in late June.
Russell has only collected two competitive victories since replacing Luchi Gonzalez, with his only triumph versus an MLS opponent coming against the Chicago Fire in July (1-0).
He is still seeking his first victory away from home as interim boss, with this team losing four consecutive matches versus MLS opponents as the visitors, conceding four or more goals in three of those instances.
The Goonies are winless in their last five away matches against the Black and Gold and have not beaten them at BMO Stadium since 2020 (2-1).
Team News
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LAFC were without Timothy Tillman against Austin due to a knock, Luis Muller was sidelined with a sore hip and Lorenzo Dellavalle is out for the season because of a torn ACL.
Their big summer signing, Olivier Giroud, did not feature last Wednesday, but he is eligible to make his debut after joining them from AC Milan, and Lewis O'Brien is still seeking his first appearance since coming over on loan from Nottingham Forest.
An 11th-minute strike courtesy of Denis Bouanga gave them an early lead, with Cristian Olivera putting the game to bed in the second half and Hugo Lloris making four stops for his second clean sheet of the competition.
San Jose did not have Carlos Akapo available against Necaxa as he and Jamar Ricketts have lower-body issues, while JT Marcinkowski is recovering from a torn ACL.
The Quakes had Emi Ochoa, Cruz Medina and Niko Tsakiris available last week after they were all previously on international duty, with the latter coming on as a second-half substitute.
A Jackson Yueill strike five minutes in was just the beginning for the Goonies on Thursday, as Jeremy Ebobisse netted a brace to lead this tournament (four goals), with the other goals coming from Hernan Lopez and Paul Marie.
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Murillo, Chanot, Long; Hollingshead, Sanchez, Atuesta, Campos; Olivera, Bogusz, Bouanga
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Yarbrough; Kikanovic, Munie, Rodrigues, Costa; Yueill, Gruezo; Espinoza, Lopez, Pellegrino; Ebobisse
We say: Los Angeles FC 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes
The Quakes away record speaks for itself, and a side as opportunistic as LAFC should not need to do much to expose that leaky San Jose backline.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
