FC Cincinnati and San Jose Earthquakes meet at TQL Stadium on Saturday in Major League Regular Season matchday 20, with both sides sitting in the top third of the 30-team table but separated by 10 points.
San Jose arrive in third place with 33 points from 17 matches, recording 10 wins, three draws and four defeats. Their goals record reads 35 scored and 20 conceded. The Earthquakes have taken 13 points from their last five matches, a run that includes four wins and one draw.
FC Cincinnati sit seventh on 23 points, also having played 17 matches. Their record shows six wins, five draws and six defeats, with 41 goals scored and 42 conceded. The hosts have collected nine points from their last five matches and arrive on the back of two consecutive wins, most recently a 2-3 victory away at Chicago Fire and a 2-0 home win over New York Red Bulls.
Prior to that winning run, Cincinnati drew three successive matches — a 4-4 draw at New York City FC, a 3-3 home draw with Chicago Fire, and a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC. San Jose's most recent outing also ended in a draw, a 1-1 result at Toronto FC, following victories over St. Louis City, Austin, Los Angeles FC and Sporting Kansas City.
The 10-point gap between the two sides frames the stakes plainly. Cincinnati have played the same number of matches as San Jose and sit four places below them in the table. San Jose's goals-against record of 20 from 17 matches compares with Cincinnati's 42 conceded across the same number of outings.
Kick-off at TQL Stadium is at 23:30 UTC.