Rapids did us a big favour with that 5-1 demolition of Seattle Sounders on Saturday, ahead of which I wrote ..."You know that I am a Seattle "fan" and have tipped them up as likely Supporters Shield winners for many weeks and I have been on the money there, but I feel they might lose this evening. They have two games in hand of many teams and they might just be more focused on two big West Coast match ups over the next seven days against Vancouver and Portland. Rapids have matches against Vancouver (twice) and a trip to San Jose ( if they know the way there !) left after this, two teams they are battling toe to toe with for a top 5 finish. They are solid at home ( 8-4-3) and in many ways, this might be the "easier" of their four remaining fixtures. They are unbeaten in seven at home and have not played in 15 days, since a 1-0 loss in Portland, they are straining at the leash to get out there and will strip fresher that Sounders, who have played twice in the meantime. Hosts might start with  Martin Rivero, Gabriel Torres and Vicente Sánchez for the first time , but whomever plays, will be up for this. Clint Dempsey did not travel with the Sounders squad."

The match was over as a contest early, Rapids led after 15 seconds, were two up inside 10 minutes and three ahead before the half hour mark. Now it is their turn to meet a well rested opponent, Earthquakes have not played in ten days since registering a late, late road win in LA against Chivas. The winner came after they had been reduced to ten men and was gritty more than anything else, but it proved their battling qualities and desire to remain in the post season contention for as long as possible and at least take things into the final week of play. To do so, they are going to have to win today. They will be pleased that the winner verses Chivas came from prolific striker Chris Wondolowski, who was on the scoresheet for the first time since mid August and will be looking for him to follow up. Like many strikers he is very "streaky" and once off the mark, the goals tend to flow, it is worth noting that he scored five in the last three regular season games last season, including three on the road to Rapids. Actually this is a series that SJE have bossed recently , taking 13 points and scoring 13 goals from the last five h2h meetings.

The hosts desperately need this, already four points adrift of Rapids and that desired fifth place, a win and only a win is going to help, they are without Victor Bernandez (23-1-1) and Marvin Chavez ( 15-1-1) who are both on international duty and suspended Steven Lenhart ( 19-4-1), but to be honest, at this stage of the campaign, that is less of a worry and is offset by the motivation factor and the loss of top scorer Deshorn Brown (29-9-4 ) for Rapids, who is away with the Jamaican national team. Also missing on international duty is Gabriel Torres, who only joined in August, but has been starting regularly over the last month and sharing the lone striker role with Brown, to lose both, will be tough. 1.5 units San Jose Earthquakes -0.5 ball 2.07 asian lie/Ibramarket.

Good Luck.