Luchi Gonzalez has urged San Jose Earthquakes to turn PayPal Park into a fortress, starting against FC Cincinnati in the MLS on Saturday.

San Jose sit bottom of the Western Conference, three points adrift of FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City after winning just three games this season.

The ‘Quakes are winless in their last four matches, but Gonzalez is confident the mid-season break served his team’s preparation for Cincinnati well.

"The guys had some time off to kind of recharge and miss each other, miss training, miss the competition," Gonzalez said. "They're showing hunger, they're showing intensity and excitement as we approach Cincinnati.

"It's about getting the stadium back to being our fortress. Making teams miserable here and our intensity and our urgency to push the game. We know Cincinnati defend very well. They can hurt you with some individual talent."

Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s seven-game winning streak was ended by defeat to Nashville SC last time out.

They sit second in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind leaders Inter Miami, having played two games less, but head coach Pat Noonan does not want them to pay any attention to the standings.

"I don't want our group to focus at all on where they are in the standings," said Noonan. I don't think it's indicative of the quality they have and the challenges that we'll face so that part’s important.

"The second you think you have any type of advantage because of the position in the standings, or your opponents’ position, you step on the field and understand pretty quickly that's a poor approach."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Jose – Amahl Pellegrino

Pellegrino scored his team-leading fifth goal in San Jose’s last match on May 31. He’s scored four of the Earthquakes’ last nine MLS goals dating back to early May.

Cincinnati – Luciano Acosta

Acosta has recorded at least one goal contribution in each of his last five away matches (three goals, four assists), the longest streak in club history. Only Cristian Arango (11) has more goal contributions in road matches than Acosta (10 – four goals, six assists) this season.

MATCH PREDICTION: FC CINCINNATI WIN

Each team recorded a home win over the other in the first two meetings between San Jose and FC Cincinnati. Cincinnati won the last meeting, 6-0, in 2022, the largest margin of victory in team history and tied for San Jose’s largest-ever defeat.

Cincinnati has lost only one of its last 14 MLS away matches (incl. playoffs) dating back to last August (W9 D4) including winning the last four in a row. The only team in MLS history to lose just once in a span of 15 road games (incl. playoffs) was LA Galaxy in 2009-10.

Meanwhile, San Jose has just 11 points from 16 matches this season, equaling their worst total at this stage of a season in club history (also in 2018). The ‘Quakes have never hit the halfway point of a 34-match season with fewer than 12 points.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Jose – 21.6%

Draw – 21.8%

Cincinnati – 56.6%

Chris Armas believes the Colorado Rapids are already developing a winning mentality, as they bid to continue their strong start to the campaign against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

Colorado sit fifth in the Western Conference standings with 18 points from 11 games after beating New York City FC 2-1 on their travels last week, their fifth win of the campaign.

That is as many victories as they managed throughout the entirety of last season, and another win on Saturday would take them past the 20-point mark, which they required 27 matches to surpass in 2023.

"Often I'm just watching and learning from the best teams and coaches, that could be in our league, it could be around the world, but when the whistle blows we know how to ramp it up," Armas said this week.

"If you have this ability to ramp it up on game day, then that becomes the norm. You can be light-hearted, you can enjoy training, but when the whistle blows out there it is game on.

"You can see that's becoming who we are, that we know our roles and the players are clear on what they do. We hold them to it and they're now starting to hold each other more accountable."

The 'Quakes are bottom of the West with seven points, though they recorded just their second win of the season against Los Angeles FC last week.

Amahl Pellegrino scored in that 3-1 derby win, and he hopes it can be a turning point for the team, saying: "Football is an easy thing when you have confidence. 

"To get a huge win with a good performance makes things easier because you start to believe in what you're doing in training. We just have to continue."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Colorado Rapids – Cole Bassett 

Bassett recorded a goal and an assist in last week's win over NYCFC, his fifth regular-season match with at least one goal and one assist for the Rapids. 

Only three players have ever enjoyed more such games for Colorado in their MLS history.

San Jose Earthquakes – Cristian Espinoza 

Espinoza assisted two of San Jose's three goals against LAFC last time out, his eighth multi-assist match in MLS, tied for the most of any player since he joined the league in 2019 (with Carles Gil and Mauricio Pereyra).

MATCH PREDICTION – COLORADO RAPIDS WIN

Colorado are unbeaten in 12 straight regular-season home matches against San Jose (six wins, six draws) with the Earthquakes' last win in Commerce City coming in 2013. 

This equals the Rapids' longest regular-season home unbeaten run against any opponent, having also gone 12 without defeat versus the LA Galaxy between 2003 and 2009.

With San Jose only recording two wins so far this campaign, the Rapids will be confident of maintaining that impressive record.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY 

Colorado Rapids – 48.2%

San Jose Earthquakes – 24.6%

Draw – 27.2%