Since the dawn of Major League Soccer the San Jose Earthquakes have cultivated a contentious rivalry with the LA Galaxy, a matchup dubbed the "California Clasico" that's featured some of the wildest games in league history.
They're the new kids on the block, but it appears that LAFC fans fancy some of that, too.
The Black-&-Gold's 3252 supporters section welcomed the Quakes to Banc of California Stadium for the first time with a vibrant, and aggressive, tifo offering on Saturday, promising "death from above" with an image of a dead Smurf, an allusion to the old nickname given to the Quakes in past eras when their kits were predominantly luminous blue.
Galaxy fans might well enjoy pointing out that they were the first to apply that name to San Jose, who have scaled up the black and dialed down the blue in their current uniforms. For their part, the Quakes seem up for a scrap, indulging in a #BeatLA hashtag and teasing LAFC part-owner Will Ferrell on their social-media channels:
So is the Cali Clasico on its way to becoming a three-way affair like the Cascadia Cup? We'll have to wait and see.
