In celebration of the 30th Major League Soccer campaign, we will see a clash between the first two teams to play a regular season fixture in this competition when the San Jose Earthquakes host DC United at PayPal Park on Sunday.
The Quakes moved up to 10th in the Western Conference following a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders last Saturday, while the Black and Red are 12th in the East, suffering a 2-1 defeat at home to the Columbus Crew.
Match preview
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After a strong start to the season, San Jose have been humbled in recent weeks, losing three of their last four games after winning their opening two in 2025.
Bruce Arena's men survived despite being under siege for most of their match against the Sounders, conceding nine efforts on target with only 35% possession.
Last weekend, the former DC United boss saw his side drop points after drawing first blood for the first time in the 2025 MLS campaign.
With seven points after six matchdays, Arena has collected four more points than this side had at this stage of their previous domestic season.
This team have points in their last five regular-season affairs when netting multiple times, though they have not won a match in this competition when scoring just one goal since August 2023 (1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps).
The Goonies are unbeaten in their last three league meetings versus DC, winning their previous home clash against them at PayPal Park in 2021 (4-1).
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More points fell by the wayside for the Black and Red last weekend as they failed to hang onto another early lead, putting them near the back of the pack in the Eastern Conference.
Troy Lesesne's men have now dropped seven points in the league this season when netting the opener, winning just once after six matchdays.
They won five of their final six away matches in this competition last year but have just one point from two games outside the US capital in 2025.
Should they suffer another defeat this weekend, it would equal their longest losing run in this competition from a season ago (three).
With only one victory after six matchdays, it is the fewest this club have accumulated to this stage of a regular season since 2020 (one).
DC have won two of their last three domestic matches against Western Conference opposition, defeating Sporting Kansas City 2-1 earlier this year.
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Team News
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Lower body injuries have plagued San Jose lately, with Niko Tsakiris, Hernan Lopez, Benji Kikanovic and Nick Fernandez sitting out against Seattle for that reason.
Quakes captain Cristian Espinoza extended his consecutive games streak to 115, a club record and the third-longest all-time run in MLS, with only Luis Robles (183) and Chris Klein (141) having longer ones.
Beau Leroux had the only strike for his side last Saturday, the first career MLS goal for the 21-year-old, who was born in San Jose.
A sore knee kept Conner Antley on the DC United sidelines versus the Crew, Randall Leal sat out with a thigh issue, Hakim Karamoko did not feature due to an abdomen problem, while Jackson Hopkins missed that match because of an ankle strain.
Midfielder Matti Peltola started his first match of the season last week, as he and Kye Rowles came into the opening lineup in place of Lukas MacNaughton and Boris Enow.
Christian Benteke had their only goal in a losing effort against Columbus, with the 2024 MLS Golden Boot winner scoring his fourth of the year.
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Daniel; Rodrigues, Wilson, Romney; Espinoza, Leroux, Arango, Harkes, Lima; Martinez, Judd
DC United possible starting lineup:
Jun-hong; Herrera, Bartlett, MacNaughton, Schnegg; Peltola, Kijima; Stroud, Pirani, Peglow; Benteke
We say: San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 DC United
Having so many Earthquake stars back in town for this commemorative match may inspire the home team on Sunday, while DC are far too vulnerable at the back right now for us to have faith in them even against an often-mediocre San Jose side.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
