The Seattle Sounders will host the Supporters’ Shield-leading San Jose Earthquakes tonight, pitting the league’s best defense and against the top offense. The Earthquakes are off to a blazing start with 29 points through 12 games, while the Sounders are on 21 through 10. The Sounders are the only team to beat the Earthquakes this year, winning their early matchup 1–0 in San Jose.

Here’s what you need to know:

Injury news

Sounders

OUT: Pedro de la Vega — Knee; Yeimar Gomez Andrade — Hamstring; Nikola Petković — Knee

San Jose

OUT: Vítor Costa — Lower Body; Earl Edwards Jr. — Lower Body; DeJuan Jones — Lower Body; Niko Tsakiris — Lower Body; Timo Werner — Lower Body

Opposition players to watch

Preston Judd: While Niko Tsakiris and Timo Werner have gotten the headlines, the Judd has gone a bit under the radar. But don’t sleep on the Las Vegas native. Judd has eight goals already this year and is looking like a player primed for a massive breakout campaign.

Ousseni Bouda: It’s taken a bit longer for this Stanford product to develop, but Bouda is off to a blazing start with five goals and an assist. He’s constantly a danger on the wing and will keep the Soundrs’ hands full.

Stats to look smart

29 – The Earthquakes are off to a blazing hot start with 29 points through 12 games. It was only 2024, the year before Bruce Arena took over, that the Quakes had just 21 points all season!

0 – The Sounders still have not gotten a goal from a starting striker this season, even including Concacaf Champions Cup play. Jordan Morris’ only goal came while he was playing right wing and Danny Musovski and Osaze De Rosario have only scored in games they came off the bench.

Tactics to impress

If you’ve not been paying close attention, you can be excused for not knowing that the Earthquakes are actually a lot of fun. They play some of the most tempo of any team in the league and love to just cram the ball down opponents’ throats. They do this not with pressing but with just relentless attacking once they have the ball.
In the first meeting, the Sounders were basically pinned back and were a little fortunate to pull out a win after getting a goal on the counter. I suspect they’ll have a lot more of the ball this time, and it will be interesting to see if they can convert that possession into goals.