California Clasico Plays 12th Annual Rivalry Game at Stanford Stadium

Stanford Stadium is hosting a very special event next weekend. On June 28, the California Clasico will take place in Palo Alto, at Stanford University. The match will be an MLS fixture between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The California Clasico has been a passionate rivalry for years. Starting in 1996, the MLS was founded, including both California teams. Just like in all other sports, the Bay Area vs Los Angeles rivalry was heated, and typically made or broke each team's season.

In the past, there had been Clasico’s in many different cities, but starting in 2013, both teams agreed to have a neutral site game played at Stanford Stadium. In the first inaugural rivalry game at Stanford, the Earthquakes won a 4-3 thriller in front of 50,000. In the following year, they won 3-2, where San Jose scored three late goals to steal the victory.

Since 2012, there have been 11 contests at Stanford Stadium. San Jose has won five matches, while Los Angeles has won just three. The final three ended in draws. However, the craziest stat of them all has to be the 43 goals scored overall in just 11 matches. That’s 3.9 goals per game!

Last season, Los Angeles beat San Jose 3-0 in the Stanford matchup, and followed by ending the season with the MLS Championship, becoming the best club in the United States. Going into this season, the LA Galaxy surely expected a rivalry win, but the standings don’t prove it.

The Galaxy have had an abysmal season, winning just one of their first 18 MLS games, having the lowest point total in the league at eight. On the other hand, the Quakes have had a great bounceback to their poor last few seasons.

After 18 games, San Jose has six wins, five draws, and seven losses, good for a total of 23 points. They currently are on the fringe of a playoff spot, sitting eighth place in the Western Conference, out of 15 teams.

This is expected to be a shootout. In the first matchup this season, the Earthquakes won 1-0 in LA, off of a late Ousseni Bouda goal. Stanford fans may recognize that name, as Bouda played for the Cardinal from 2019-21.

Over the course of their entire rivalry, the Galaxy hold the edge with 50 total victories, while the Earthquakes have just 34. The two clubs have also played to 19 draws. Landon Donovan is the all-time leading scorer in this matchup as well, with 16 goals.

Coming up north, this game will certainly be competitive, but San Jose clearly has had the better season, and has earlier results to back it up. Expect a higher scoring game, with the hope being that former Cardinal, Bouda, will find the back of the net.