California Clásico

Donovan with the San Jose Earthquakes at the 2003 MLS Cup

The Earthquakes on the field at the O.co Coliseum in 2008 Clasico

Unified as one single state, Northern California and Southern California share a notorious rivalry. Historically, rivalries have manifested prominently in the state's professional sports including MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL. For some fans, it is traditional to hate teams from Northern or Southern California. In 2001, both teams reached the MLS Cup 2001, with San Jose posting a 2–1 overtime victory on goals by Landon Donovan and Dwayne DeRosario. While next season, Carlos Ruiz led Los Angeles to its first MLS Cup title over the New England Revolution after San Jose was previously upset in the playoffs by the Columbus Crew. While there have been several players to play for both teams beforehand, the rivalry intensified after the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy) took sole ownership of the San Jose Earthquakes in December 2002.

The two teams squared off again in the first round of the 2003 MLS Cup playoffs in what would become an epic series. Los Angeles won the first game at home 2–0 in the two-game aggregate-goal series. In the second game in San Jose, the Galaxy scored two early goals to widen its aggregate lead to four goals, only to have San Jose score five unanswered goals to win the series 5–4. Many neutral MLS pundits at the time viewed that game as the best in league history. After eliminating the Galaxy, San Jose went on to defeat the Kansas City Wizards en route to winning its second MLS Cup title (over the Chicago Fire) in three years.

After a rumored buyout of the Quakes by Mexican soccer side Club América in January 2004, Earthquakes general manager Johnny Moore resigned prior to the 2004 season and was replaced by former U.S. and Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas. Under Lalas, 2004 ended up being a down year for the Quakes as it barely made the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. Both San Jose and Los Angeles were eliminated from the playoffs by Kansas City. Afterward, when Earthquakes star player Landon Donovan briefly returned to German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen after his loan agreement with San Jose expired, Lalas traded away his return rights, after which Donovan returned to play for the Galaxy. Many Earthquake fans felt betrayed and welcomed Donovan with a hostile reception when Galaxy would play at Spartan Stadium, he would be often referred to as the "American Luís Figo" as to when Figo made a hugely controversial move from Barcelona to bitter rivals Real Madrid. Several San Jose fans altered their Donovan jerseys name on the back to read "Donowho". They also brought signs with explicit messages like "Landon Judas Donovan", "PrimaDonovan Traitor" and "Donovan Is Traitor Scum."[7]

Following the departure of Lalas to become the general manager of the MetroStars early in 2005, San Jose returned to form and captured the MLS Supporters' Shield, awarded to the league's best team during the regular season. The two clubs met again in the playoffs, with Los Angeles finally winning a playoff series against San Jose thanks largely to the play of Donovan on its way to defeating New England in MLS Cup 2005.

The Earthquakes took a two-year hiatus from the league in 2006 and 2007 due to stadium and ownership issues. During that period, the Quakes' players and head coach were relocated to Houston, where they won two additional MLS Cup titles as the Houston Dynamo. Meanwhile, shortly after Lalas' brief stint with the MetroStars, he moved on to become the general manager of the Galaxy, who failed to make the playoffs during both years of San Jose's hiatus from the league.

Scuffles between the two teams

The San Jose Earthquakes franchise was revived by Lewis Wolff and Earthquakes Soccer, LLC, restarting the rivalry in 2008.[8] Ignominiously, both the Quakes and Galaxy tied for the worst record that season. The Quakes lost the series and thus received the dubious distinction.

On June 25, 2011, Josh Saunders came in for injured goalie Donovan Ricketts. Saunders received a red card for what appeared to be an intentional elbow to the face of Steven Lenhart. Galaxy had no more substitute goalies and were forced to use forward Mike Magee as a last resort. Magee kept a shutout as the game ended 0-0.[9]

The rivalry further intensified in 2012 when the Galaxy hosted the Earthquakes at The Home Depot Center with Galaxy taking the lead 2–0 but with 15 minutes left the Earthquakes came back and won the game 3–2. In late June, the Earthquakes played the Galaxy in front of 50,391 spectators at Stanford Stadium marking an attendance record for the Earthquakes franchise.[10] Once again the Galaxy took the lead 3–2 at half time but the Earthquakes managed to score two goals to defeat the Galaxy 4–3, David Beckham was involved in scuffles during and after the match, he was awarded a one-match ban by the MLS Disciplinary Committee.[11] The match itself was credited as one of the best MLS games in history.[12] Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez expressed that the Earthquakes were "embarrassing", "obnoxious" and "a bunch of jokes" after a 2-2 draw.[3]

The two teams met again in the Western Conference Semi-finals. San Jose defeated Los Angeles 1–0 in the first leg but the Galaxy came back and defeated the Earthquakes 3–1 at Buck Shaw Stadium, (3–2 on aggregate). It was the Earthquakes only loss at Buck Shaw all season.

In June 2013, the Clasico returned to Stanford Stadium and in stunning comeback fashion, the Earthquakes defeated the Galaxy with two goals by Shea Salinas and Alan Gordon in stoppage time (92',93') to win the game 3–2. San Jose became the first MLS team ever to win a game in extra time with 10 men after Victor Bernardez was red carded in the 77' minute.

For the first time, the California Clasico was hosted in Fresno, California, as part of the inaugural Central California Cup on February 15, 2014. The preseason exhibition match marked the first time two MLS franchises played each other in the city of Fresno.[13]

In June 2015, the Earthquakes hosted the Galaxy at Stanford in front of 50,422 spectators. The June 2016 match set a new attendance record of 50,816.

The first Clasico of 2017 took place during preseason, at Cashman Field in Las Vegas on February 11, and San Jose won after Olmes García, acquired by San Jose in the Waiver Draft but released later on during preseason, scored in the 89th minute.[14] The Earthquakes lost the first regular season Clasico of 2017 at home by a score of 4-2. During this match, new Earthquake Danny Hoesen scored his first goal for the club, Giovani dos Santos scored a penalty after a foul in the box by Kofi Sarkodie, and Víctor Bernárdez scored an own goal to give Los Angeles the 3-2 lead just before halftime.[15] The two teams met again a month later at Stanford on July 1 in front of a crowd of 50,617. Jelle van Damme opened the scoring for LA in the 11th minute off of a corner kick set piece, and LA remained in the lead until the 75th minute, when San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham earned an assist on Chris Wondolowski's equalizer. Shea Salinas scored the winner in the third minute of stoppage time, bringing his total of stoppage time Clasico winners up to two, and he received a yellow card for taking off his shirt in celebration as a tribute to former teammate and fellow stoppage time hero Alan Gordon.[16] The third official Clasico was fought just a week later on July 10, when San Jose and Los Angeles met again at Avaya Stadium, this time in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup. LA captain van Damme once again opened the scoring off of a corner kick, and once again San Jose came back to win, this time 3-2, on a Chris Wondolowski brace assisted entirely by Tommy Thompson and Hoesen's winner scored on a counter launched by Jahmir Hyka, with LA's second tally coming after an own goal that deflected off the back of San Jose keeper Andrew Tarbell. San Jose advanced to the semifinals of the tournament for the first time since 2004 and only the second time in franchise history. This match also saw Wondolowski tie Ronald Cerritos for the team's top goalscorer in the Open Cup.[17]