Preview | LAFC vs. San Jose Earthquakes - 2026 MLS Season

Sunday, April 19 | 4:00 p.m. PT

🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA

🖥 | WATCH: Apple TV | Coupang Play (Korea), SpoTV (Korea), Local Bar Partners

📻 | LISTEN: 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), & KYPA 1230 AM (Korean)

Third-place LAFC hosts the second-place San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday April 19, at 4:00 p.m., in a top-of-the-table California derby featured on Apple TV’s Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire.

It’s also Kids Day at BMO Stadium, with youth-focused events before and during the match, including a pregame Fan Fest starting at 12:30 p.m.

Through seven MLS matchdays, LAFC stands third in the Western Conference and third in the MLS Supporters’ Shield race with a record of 5W-1L-1D (+13 goal differential) while San Jose is second in both tables at 6W-1L-0D (+11 goal diff.).

Son Heung-Min leads MLS with seven assists, two more than the next-closest player. Denis Bouanga leads LAFC in regular-season goals, with four. David Martínez and Mathieu Choinière have scored two goals each.

LAFC returns home after completing a convincing 4-1 aggregate win over Cruz Azul in Mexico at midweek to advance to the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals. The Black & Gold is unbeaten at home in MLS this year (4W-0L-0D) and in Concacaf play as well (2W-0L-1D), and has yet to concede a goal to an MLS opponent on home turf, outscoring league opponents 12-0 in LA. In all competitions, LAFC has outscored visiting opponents 17-1. 

San Jose, however, as an unbeaten road record of 3W-0L-0D in MLS play. The Quakes are coming off their own cup win at midweek, defeating USL club Phoenix Rising, 2-0, in the U.S. Open Cup, despite playing down a man in the second half due to a red card.

“I just spoke to a friend who I haven't spoken to in a couple of weeks,” midfielder Timmy Tillman said Friday, “and he was like, ‘Yeah, you guys have been winning a lot of games.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, somehow we're still third.’ I just think it shows how good the competition is this year. I think the Western Conference is tough. There are a lot of good teams.”

MR. NICE GUY

World Cup champion and Nice, France, native Hugo Lloris leads MLS in clean sheets this year (6) and over the last three years as well (30). Lloris has not allowed a goal in league play in 2026 and is within striking distance of the all-time MLS record for consecutive goalless minutes.

“It's definitely a confidence builder,” forward Tyler Boyd said of the gift of having a world-class keeper minding the net. “It sort of gives you momentum. You don't believe they can score. He's playing so well … and you'd never know the caliber of player by his attitude because he's so humble.

“Man, the performances he's put in, it's blown my mind, but what a guy as well.”

SCOUTING SAN JOSE

Last year San Jose finished among the league leaders in goals scored and finished near the bottom in goals conceded. Over the offseason the Quakes lost their top scorers, Chicho Arango (to the Colombian league), Cristian Espinoza (to Nashville SC), and Josef Martinez (to Liga MX) while their back line personnel remained largely unchanged. One would think they would struggle to score and defend in 2026, but instead they remain near the top of the goal scoring chart (13) and have conceded just two goals—tied with LAFC for fewest in the league.

In the attack, 20-year-old Niko Tsakiris has gone from prospect to producer, leading the Quakes in goal contributions (2g/4a). Veteran English Premier League winger Timo Werner has added two assists in 200 minutes. Preston Judd leads San Jose with three goals.

Defenders Reid Roberts and Daniel Miunie lead the team in minutes played along with goalkeeper Daniel (Daniel De Sousa Britto), who has logged five clean sheets and has only conceded twice in seven starts.

THE SERIES

LAFC owns a 12W-7L-1D record against San Jose in MLS regular-season play. The Black & Gold has won five straight overall in the series, including a 4-1 win in Leagues Cup in 2024. LAFC has not lost at home to San Jose since 2020.

Bouanga (below), who leads MLS in goals scored over the last four years (2023-2026), has scored 10 career goals against San Jose in all competitions, more than he’s scored against any other club except the Galaxy (10). 

When LAFC last met the Quakes, Bouanga scored a hat trick in a 4-2 win on Sept. 13, 2025.

LAFC CAN WIN IF

It manages its roster wisely. With nine matches coming up in a 29-day span, including a Wednesday home match against Colorado, head coach Marc Dos Santos must keep an eye on his starting eleven, deftly replace a few starters in the second half, and generally lean on his depth. LAFC is off to the best start in club history, with an overall mark of 9W-1L-3D and a stunning goal differential of 29 scored and 6 conceded. It has built that record, in part, through Dos Santos’ careful management of one of the deepest groups in MLS history.

SAN JOSE CAN WIN IF

The Quakes let her rip. San Jose’s calendar is less congested than LAFC’s over the next month, so head coach Bruce Arena can challenge his first-choice eleven to keep their collective foot on the gas and add to the momentum they’ve built so far. This has also been the best start in San Jose’s history—and that history goes all the way back to 1996, when MLS was formed.