What to Watch for as Nashville SC heads to California to face San Jose Earthquakes

For the first time in club history, Nashville SC (3W-2L-1D, 10 pts.) is California bound.  

The Boys in Gold head to San Jose for a nationally televised clash against the San Jose Earthquakes (0W-4L-2D, 2 pts.) on Saturday afternoon.  

Nashville is currently riding a two-match winning streak after a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Sporting Kansas City. The team will look to rack up more points ahead of its home opener on May 1 against the Philadelphia Union. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s match:  

Date: Saturday, April 16 
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT 
Location: PayPal Park (San Jose, Calif.) 
TV: Univision, TUDN 
Stream: Twitter 
English Radio: iHeartRadio Online 
Spanish Radio: El Jefe 96.7 
Watch Party pres. by Wagr: Plaza Mariachi 

Road Trip Home Stretch – Saturday's match will be the penultimate one of an eight-match road swing for Nashville SC. With 10 points in hand through six matches, Nashville sits just three points off first place in the Western Conference.  

Head Coach Gary Smith says the team is feeling confident and in good form with just two weeks to go until the home opener at GEODIS Park on May 1.  

“If you look at our performance at the weekend as one example, it was a very open game on the day,” Smith said. “They’re the type of games we would love to put on in [GEODIS Park], and you’ve got to be in the right mindset for that. We’re in a good spot, but I don’t think anyone’s saying we’ve done enough by any stretch. Every single point you can add to the board is going to help in that process towards the postseason and being in a good position to try and strike for silverware.”  

Create, Create, Create – The Boys in Gold had their strongest offensive output of 2022 last Saturday at Sporting Kansas City. The team took 19 shots, including six on target. Nashville’s expected goals (xG) totaled up to 2.84, compared to Sporting Kansas City’s 1.16, according to FotMob.  

On top of those chances, Nashville scored its two goals on set piece plays. Defender Dave Romney, who scored the equalizing goal and started the set piece that led to the second goal, said that the team’s chance creation gave them confidence to come from behind in the match.  

“It was nice to score on two set pieces,” Romney said. “We’ve created a bunch of other chances we weren't as fortunate enough to score on, but I think we kept possession pretty well. We created a lot of chances; our attacking trio did really well. We felt a lot more balanced than we were last week. We kind of knew that going into halftime. We were pretty confident that we could come back in the game and get a win, even though we were down 1-0.” 

Scouting the Quakes – This will be Nashville SC’s first-ever meeting with the Earthquakes. An MLS original and two-time MLS Cup champions, the Quakes enter this match with two draws and no wins so far this season. Last week, the Earthquakes put in a valiant performance at Houston Dynamo FC, holding a 2-1 lead before falling 4-3 on the road.  

Forward Jeremy Ebobisse, who was acquired in August 2021, has led the line for San Jose with three goals so far in 2022. Defender Francisco Calvo has also proven to be an aerial threat on set pieces, scoring a brace of headers against Columbus Crew on March 5.  

Coverage for Saturday’s match begins at 2:30 p.m. CT on Univision, TUDN and streamed on Twitter.