MLS-best Earthquakes test mettle in rematch vs. Whitecaps

The top two teams in the MLS bid to continue their historic starts when the Vancouver Whitecaps visit the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.

The Earthquakes and Whitecaps are the only teams in MLS history to win eight of their first nine matches, and Vancouver's plus-20 goal differential (26-6) is the largest in league history through 10 games. The Quakes are plus-19 (26-7) through 11 matches.

San Jose (9-1-1, 28 points) is in first place in the Western Conference thanks to a 1-0 road victory over the Whitecaps (8-1-1, 25 points) on March 21. Beau Leroux scored the lone goal in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.

"It's two teams having unbelievable first parts of the season," Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen said. "Combined with two losses for the two teams in (21) games and one of them is because we played each other.

"It should be an exciting game for the league. We'll try to make it as exciting as possible."

Earthquakes coach Bruce Arena isn't sure the result of the first match matters when the teams convene on Saturday.

"I'm not sure it applies to this match a whole lot," Arena said. "We played real well against a good team. We scored a great goal and we hung on for a one-goal victory. What I take away from that is if we have a better feel for their team that we did going into that game but that doesn't mean we're going to be better off this time around."

San Jose had won six straight MLS matches before playing to a 1-1 tie against host Toronto FC last Saturday. Leading goal scorer Preston Judd scored the tying goal in the 13th minute, his seventh of the season.

Judd saw how Vancouver advanced to the MLS Cup final last season before losing to Inter Miami and believes the Earthquakes can make a similar push.

"Yeah, I think at this point in the season, it's a big game for us," Judd said. "We've shown that we've exceeded the expectations others set for us, and this is another opportunity to make a statement and show that we're a real contender. We're going to challenge for the Cup this year."

Vancouver had a four-match MLS winning streak snapped last Saturday when it tied the host Los Angeles Galaxy 1-1. Mathias Laborda scored the equalizer in the 81st minute.

Now comes the rematch against the Earthquakes, with the Whitecaps highly motivated to return serve.

"It's going to be tough but it's supposed to be tough," Sorensen said. "That's how it is. We're ready to go there and play the way we always try to play."

Brian White leads the Whitecaps with eight goals.