San Jose boss Arena relishing ‘tremendous’ rivalry with LAFC

Bruce Arena is relishing the chance for the San Jose Earthquakes to renew their "tremendous" rivalry with Los Angeles FC at Levi's Stadium this weekend. 

San Jose have put together back-to-back MLS victories following a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo last time out, having failed to win their prior eight league matches. 

Daniel Munie scored the only goal in the 38th minute, helping the Earthquakes move up to fourth in the Western Conference after 25 games of their campaign. 

Their clash with LAFC is the second of a three-match run on home soil, with Marc Dos Santos' team just a point behind them in the standings, having played a game more.

"The best rivalries in our league are the California teams. They're tremendous rivalries. The one with the Galaxy has been there since 1996," Arena said. "It's a tremendous rivalry.

"We developed a great one with LAFC and San Diego. Next Saturday will be another special one as well.

"I think maybe some people are missing the boat on how significant these rivalries are and how positive it is for the league, and hopefully they can continue.

"It'll be a big game. They're a very talented team, and they're going to be a difficult team to play against."

backline business last saturday. back to business this saturday.

Prime Time pic.twitter.com/eIL8IA98uI

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) September 16, 2026

LAFC, meanwhile, have managed just one win from their last eight league matches, after falling to a shock 3-1 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Sporting Kansas City last weekend. 

Andre Luiz and Taylor Calheira had given Sporting KC a two-goal lead at half-time before Denis Bouanga halved the deficit two minutes after the restart. 

But Sporting KC substitute Jacob Bartlett sealed the win in the 71st minute, helping the team record just their fifth league victory in what has been a disappointing campaign. 

LAFC boss Dos Santos blamed the result on a slow start, adding that his team cannot just win games because of their superior position in the table.

"The problem is, in the first half, we stayed on the plane," Dos Santos said. "I think in the first half we were still in LA, maybe, it was very disappointing.

"We defended ourselves far from each other, passive. We didn't win any duels in the first half.

"You don't win games just by looking at the standings. You have to win them on the field."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

SJ Earthquakes – Niko Tsakiris

No player has created more chances for San Jose this season than Tsakiris (46), and he has been key to the Earthquakes' recent upturn in form.

Tsakiris (one goal, three assists) and Beau Leroux (one goal, two assists) have combined for seven goal contributions this month. All other Earthquakes players have combined to have three goal contributions in September.

LAFC – Denis Bouanga

Bouanga scored his 13th goal of the 2026 regular season last time out, and he has now scored 77 regular-season goals since the beginning of 2023.

The only player with more goals over a four-season span in MLS history is Bradley Wright-Phillips (85 between 2014-17 and 78 between 2015-18).

Bouanga puts us on the goal sheet https://t.co/aSVhond6xx pic.twitter.com/MiM2ZPU2Fj

— LAFC (@LAFC) September 13, 2026

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

The Earthquakes recorded a 4-1 road win over LAFC in April, their largest margin of victory in the 23 all-time meetings across all competitions in the fixture. There have been 96 total goals scored in the matchup's history (4.2 combined per game).

San Jose had won just one of 14 competitive matches (D5 L8) prior to their current two-game winning streak. The Earthquakes' 1-0 victory over Houston was their first shutout win in any match since a 2-0 US Open Cup triumph over Phoenix Rising on April 15.

LAFC, meanwhile, are winless in each of their last five regular-season away matches (D3 L2). Their last road MLS win came against the Los Angeles Galaxy in July, and they are unbeaten away from home against California teams over the last two seasons (W2 D2).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

SJ Earthquakes – 36.8%

Draw – 26.3%

LAFC – 37%

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