Sunday, June 29

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Sports Mole previews Sunday's MLS clash between San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Already separated by 18 points in the Major League Soccer Western Conference, San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy will do battle at PayPal Park on Sunday.

After 19 matches, the visitors sit at the foot of the table on just eight points, while their visitors climbed into the top five with a win last time out.

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Match preview

San Jose Earthquakes return to action on Sunday in search of back-to-back wins to strengthen their standing in the MLS Western Conference playoff spots.

After missing out on the playoffs entirely last year, the Quakes have enjoyed a more pleasing 2025 campaign thus far, currently sitting fifth having earned 26 points from their opening 19 outings.

Bruce Arena's side have won seven and lost seven of those games, most recently following up a defeat to St Louis City and a draw against Portland Timbers, in which they equalised in injury time through Preston Judd, with a return to winning ways last time out.

The California outfit visited Dallas and left with all three points from a 4-2 triumph, initially coming from behind to lead 2-1 through Cristian Arango and Josef Martinez, before Beau Leroux put them back ahead 15 minutes from time and Mark-Anthony Kaye put the game out of sight in the dying embers.

Now sitting in a healthy spot in the conference after 19 outings, albeit only leading Los Angeles FC, Seattle Sounders and Austin FC on goal difference, San Jose Earthquakes will bid to narrow their gap to the top four with another three-point haul at the weekend.

Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip across California aiming to kickstart their campaign after a dismal start.

Los Angeles Galaxy headed into the 2025 MLS campaign as defending champions, having triumphed over New York Red Bulls in the final to win the title for the sixth time, but they are yet to mount a playoff challenge thus far in the Western Conference.

Indeed, Greg Vanney's side find themselves somewhat cut adrift already at the bottom of the table having only earned eight points from their first 19 outings, winning just one and losing 13 of those.

That solitary victory came at the 17th attempt for Galaxy, beating Real Salt Lake 2-0 at home in early June, and after following that up with a 3-3 draw away at St Louis City, Vanney's men failed to continue their improvement last time out, falling short away at Colorado Rapids as Djordje Mihailovic and Calvin Harris condemned them to a 2-0 defeat.

Now trailing 14th-placed St Louis by seven points and the top nine by 17, Los Angeles Galaxy head into the weekend needing to begin a winning run if they are to stand a chance of scaling the conference.

San Jose Earthquakes MLS form:

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San Jose Earthquakes form (all competitions):

Los Angeles Galaxy MLS form:

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Team News

San Jose Earthquakes could be unchanged from their away win last time out, with Bruno Wilson, Noel Buck and Niko Tsakiris remaining confined to the treatment room.

Josef Martinez will again spearhead the attack, having returned from international duty to score his eighth MLS goal of the season in that game, while Cristian Espinoza and Cristian Arango are also key men in a front three with the former boasting 11 league assists this term and the latter having moved onto 10 goals for the campaign against Dallas.

Elsewhere, Beau Leroux and Ian Harkes are key men in the engine room and will continue their partnership in the middle of their 3-4-3 setup.

Los Angeles Galaxy remain without key midfielder Riqui Puig, who is yet to feature this season through injury after hitting 17 goals and 18 assists in 33 MLS games last year.

Christian Ramirez may come back in and lead the line with support from former Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus, who has contributed three goals and six assists in 13 league appearances so far this term.

Behind him, Lucas Sanabria should again join Edwin Cerrillo in the engine room, while Carlos Garces and veteran Maya Yoshida will continue their defensive partnership.

San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:

Daniel; Rodrigues, Romney, Munie; Jones, Leroux, Harkes, Costa; Espinoza, Martinez, Arango

Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:

Micovic; Yamane, Yoshida, Garces, Nelson; Cerrillo, Sanabria; Pec, Reus, Paintsil; Ramirez

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We say: San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 Los Angeles Galaxy

 

Boosted by a return to winning ways last time out, and with home advantage on their side, we back San Jose Earthquakes to make it back-to-back three-point hauls against a Los Angeles Galaxy side who have been devoid of any confidence or momentum since the beginning of the season.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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