SANTA CLARA – Playing on their biggest stage of the season, the San Jose Earthquakes met the moment with their best performance.
Three crosses by Cristian Espinoza led to goals as the Quakes beat LAFC 3-1 Saturday in front of 43,774 fans at Levi’s Stadium, the largest MLS crowd this season that didn’t involve a season opener or Lionel Messi.
“It was a really great experience to play a huge game like this in a huge stadium,” forward Amahl Pellegrino said. “The environment was amazing. People came here to have a party and think the team (responded). We haven’t been so good this season, but derby games are different.
“It was a great response and it was cool to play this game and close an important three points.”
Brazilian defender Rodrigues opened the scoring in the fifth minute when he headed in a corner from Espinoza past LAFC goalie Hugo Lloris, who started for France in the last two World Cup finals.
While it was a positive start, it didn’t guarantee anything – the Quakes had lost four of five games this season when scoring first, a big reason why they sat last in the Western Conference. But this time, the Quakes didn’t relent.
Espinoza’s second assist came in the run of play when he sent a long cross to Pellegrino. The perfectly weighted pass just after crossing the midfield line put Pellegrino in 1-on-1 with Lloris, and the Norwegian forward calmly dribbled past the keeper and scored into the empty net in the 55th minute.
It was the second goal of the season for Pellegrino, who led Norway’s first division in goals in each of the past two seasons (49 total) before coming to San Jose this year. Espinoza, who came to the Quakes from Argentina in 2019, extended his team record with 64 assists.
“I know Cristian has one of the best right foots in the league,” Pellegrino said. “We always talk about (how) I like to go behind the defenders and find space. It was a fantastic ball and he made my job easy, just to get the right touch and go past the goalkeeper.”
A near-post run by Rodrigues on another corner kick by Espinoza in the 59th minute led to an own goal by Denis Bouanga and put the Quakes (2-8-1, 7 points) up 3-0, their biggest lead of the season.
The Quakes haven’t had a clean sheet this season, and LAFC (4-4-3) ensured that would continue when Cristian Olivera scored in the 69th minute. But William Yarbrough (six saves) made a few diving stops in the final 20 minutes to preserve his team’s first win in six weeks.
Hernan Lopez, the Quakes’ $6M record signing from Argentina, was cleared to play on Friday and made his MLS debut to start the second half. Wearing a No. 23 jersey and sporting bright orange cleats, the left-footed No. 10 had an immediate impact, earning a free kick right outside the box that Jeremy Ebobisse sent just over the crossbar.
Despite playing just one half, Lopez finished with three key passes, the second-most in the game behind Espinoza’s four.
“To show a lot of good things in 45 minutes when you’ve only been on the team for 2-3 days, that shows a lot of quality,” Pellegrino said.
It was the second straight year that the Quakes beat their Southern California rival in the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Levi’s. San Jose beat LAFC 2-1 last year with more than 45,000 in attendance.
That result was critical as San Jose made the playoffs in 2023 by one point. Though the Quakes are still far outside the playoff picture this year, they hope the addition of Lopez will jumpstart another run to the postseason.
The Quakes host the Oakland Roots on Tuesday as they start U.S. Open Cup competition. The Roots play in the USL, one level below MLS, but the Quakes said they will take the competition seriously.
“We know that Cup games are different,” Pellegrino said. “To take that kind of game easy could be a recipe for disaster. We will be prepared. The Cup is important for us.”
Their next MLS match is next Saturday at Colorado, and they do have one more large-stadium home game, as they host the L.A. Galaxy on June 29 in their annual game at Stanford Stadium.
