The Earthquakes and Galaxy will face each other twice in five days in an MLS match and then a U.S. Open Cup playoff.
Days after the San Jose Earthquakes face Los Angeles Galaxy at Stanford Stadium for their first league meeting of the season June 27, the rival clubs will face each other at Avaya Stadium for the first time in a U.S. Open Cup round of 16 match on July 1.
The clubs were paired in a random drawing conducted by U.S. Soccer at its Chicago office Thursday morning. For the first time in history, the 2015 U.S. Open Cup will operate using a fixed bracket, with the remaining 16 clubs broken up into four regions.
The Quakes and Galaxy will participate in the West Region, alongside the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake, who will also face off on July 1 match at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. The winner of that match will host the winner of the Quakes-Galaxy match in the quarterfinals at a date to be determined.
The Earthquakes won their fourth round matchup 6-5 on penalty kicks after playing to a 2-2 draw against third-tier Sacramento Republic FC Tuesday at Avaya Stadium. The Galaxy comfortably won their fourth round matchup 6-1 against Irvine-based fifth-tier club PSA Elite on Wednesday in Carson, CA.
With MLS clubs entering in the fourth round, four consecutive victories are required to win the trophy and be rewarded with a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League. The Earthquakes best ever finish was the semi-finals in 2004, in Dominic Kinnear’s first season as head coach. The Galaxy have won the tournament twice in 2001 and 2005.
Follow @SFBay and @JakeMMontero on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of the San Jose Earthquakes.
A Buddhist monk stabbed and critically injured a fellow monk at an East Oakland temple on Tuesday evening.
A's designated hitter Billy Butler knows full well how quickly things can change during the course of 162 games.
Approaching a home-and-home sweep of the Padres, Thursday's game was decided in a pitcher's duel.
