The San Jose Earthquakes will open Avaya Stadium with a friendly against a big-name opponent – from the same state.
In announcing their preseason schedule on Thursday, the Earthquakes included a Feb. 28 friendly against 'California Clásico' rivals LA Galaxy, to be played at Avaya Stadium before a crowd limited to 10,000, essentially a soft opening for the venue. Earthquakes season ticket holders will have the first opportunity to buy tickets for the friendly.
The stadium's first official game will be March 22 against the Chicago Fire and will be televised by FOX Sports 1. Tickets for that match have already sold out to the general public, with some tickets still available as part of season ticket packages.
The 18,000-capacity Avaya Stadium, located near San Jose International Airport, will be the newest soccer stadium in MLS and is expected to be among the most technologically advanced in the world.
The rivalry between San Jose and the Galaxy goes back to the first season of Major League Soccer, when the teams played four times in the regular season and met in the playoffs, a series won by LA in three games.
Things heated up from 2001-05, when San Jose beat LA for the 2001 MLS Cup and downed the Galaxy with the greatest comeback in MLS history in the 2003 postseason en route to another title, both times led by Landon Donovan. After playing in Germany, Donovan returned to MLS and joined the Galaxy, leading LA to an upset of Supporters' Shield winners San Jose in the 2005 playoffs and that year's MLS Cup title.
Since the Earthquakes returned to MLS in 2008, the teams have had several memorable battles, including 4-3 and 3-2 thrillers at Stanford Stadium in 2012 and 2013, both won by San Jose, and a playoff series in 2012, won by the Galaxy en route to the MLS Cup title.
All-time, LA lead the regular-season series 27-18-12, the playoff series 5-4-1 (3-2 in series won) and the teams' Open Cup series 3-0-1 (4-0 in rounds won).
