San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Matias Perez Garcia knows a thing about Cali Clasico greatness.
In a recent Earthquakes countdown of San Jose’s best goals in the rivalry’s history, Garcia appeared twice, at No. 10 and No. 8. And since arriving as a Designated Player in 2014, San Jose are 2-2-3 against their fiercest rivals with Garcia playing a vital role in both victories. His debut goal for the club (watch it above) came in a 2-2 Cali Clasico draw in 2014.
On Saturday at Stanford Stadium (10 pm ET on Univision in USA; MLS LIVE in Canada), in front of another Clasico crowd of over 50,000 fans, the stage will be set for Garcia to shine again.
“We need a little more luck and to stay calm when it’s time to finish,” Garcia said about San Jose’s recent drought of goals -- a drought that ended last week against Orlando with two late strikes that interrupted a scoreless streak extending over 350 minutes. “In our last match, we were able to score twice at the end of the match so it’s really about staying calm when the time comes to execute."
Garcia and the rest of the San Jose midfield will have their hands full on Saturday against the talented core of Galaxy stars. While their SoCal rivals will be without Gyasi Zardes, who is on international duty at the Copa America Centenario, LA still boast star power like Giovani Dos Santos and Nigel de Jong -- a man of particular interest to an offensive-minded player like Garcia.
“He’s a great player, but we have a great team,” Garcia said. “In the last match against the Galaxy, we played well in the first half, we controlled the ball well, and so we need to do more of that. Keep moving, have simple touches, play our game and if we do that, we have a chance to win.
“We have to focus on playing well. If we play well, we have a big chance to win. That goes beyond how they [the Galaxy] are playing. They have great players, but we have our team and if we do things well, we can win."
The Earthquakes are 5-3-1 all-time when playing at Stanford Stadium, including a 3-1-0 record in matches against the LA Galaxy.
Garcia hopes to make it a memorable weekend with a Clasico triumph on Saturday followed by a Copa America final on Sunday with his home country, Argentina, attempting to capture their first title since 1993.
“Argentina is playing well, very solid,” Garcia said. “They have superstar players. Messi is playing well. That’s important. So hopefully, they can win the title since they were denied in the World Cup [2014] and in the last Copa America [2015] as well, they lost in the final. So this is a lovely opportunity for Argentina to enjoy a championship for their people and for their players who want it so badly."
