San Jose Earthquakes celebrate 50th anniversary with a CalClasico loss

(KRON) — The San Jose Earthquakes celebrate their 50th anniversary with their first game in the Major League Soccer season against LA Galaxy on Saturday– popularly known as the CalClasico — with a 3-1 loss. 

The Earthquakes hosted the LA Galaxy at home in San Jose’s PayPal Park. The 18,000-capacity stadium will now be co-shared with San Francisco’s Bay FC — the newest addition to the National Women’s Soccer League.

“It’s a game we take very personally,” Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez said. “Fans do, we do, the players, our new players are integrated – they understand the history. We want to take care of business in front of our fans. Rain or shine.”

The San Jose Earthquakes are coming off to a slow start after not making it to the 2024 U.S. Open Cup in the first round. However, only eight U.S. teams have made the playoffs this year in total. 

Last season, the Earthquakes scored an average of 1.1 goals and conceded an average of 1.2. Despite the Earthquakes having a better average than Galaxy’s average goals, conceding two per game, the Earthquakes could not come out on top of Saturday’s game. 

On Saturday, players signed posters and passed out more than 160 soccer balls to an afterschool program at McKinley Elementary. The Earthquakes also donated a $15,000 check to America SCORES, one of the non-profits responsible for organizing the afterschool soccer program. 

As part of their celebration, the 2003 MLS champions also created a “50 kit” available for purchase. This was the first item available for purchase, and the Earthquakes will be rolling out additional merchandise throughout the season. 

The San Jose Earthquake’s next match will be against the Vancouver Whitecaps on March 6 at 7:30 pm.