PRESS RELEASE:
Sept. 13, 2025
MATCH RECAP: Earthquakes 2, LAFC 4
San Jose falls behind early as comeback bid falls short in front of club-record crowd of 50,978 fans; Quakes return to PayPal Park Sept. 20 vs. St. Louis CITY SC
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Jose Earthquakes fell to LAFC 4-2 on Saturday at Levi’s® Stadium in Major League Soccer regular-season play in front of 50,978 fans, breaking the all-time club standalone attendance record set in 2019.
The visitors struck first with three goals in the initial 12 minutes. Son Heung-min opened the scoring in the first minute, finishing off a feed from Artem Smoliakov. Denis Bouanga then added a brace in the ninth and 12th minutes to triple LAFC’s advantage.
San Jose finally answered the bell in the 18th minute when Cristian “Chicho” Arango slalomed through multiple defenders and pushed the ball ahead to Preston Judd for the finish to make it 3-1 before the half’s conclusion.
After intermission, the Quakes pushed for a comeback but Bouanga added an insurance goal in the 87th minute for LAFC. San Jose scored off an own goal in the 90th minute by Sergi Palencia that originated from a Benji Kikanović cross to serve as the final margin, 4-2.
The Black and Blue now return to PayPal Park Saturday, Sept. 20, to face St. Louis CITY SC. Kickoff will take place at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast globally via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (English/Spanish), as well as via local radio on 107.7 FM The Bone (English) and KZSF 1370 AM La Kaliente (Spanish).
GAME NOTES
Tonight’s crowd of 50,978 broke the Earthquakes’ all-time standalone record of 50,850, set on June 29, 2019, when San Jose beat the LA Galaxy 3-0 at Stanford Stadium. With the most recent Cali Clasico on June 28 against the Galaxy drawing 42,881 fans at Stanford as well, the Quakes hosted two of the eight highest-attended regular-season matches in all MLS this season—and the only two games on that list west of the Mississippi River.
TOP 10 LARGEST STANDALONE HOME ATTENDANCES IN EARTHQUAKES HISTORY*^
1) 50,978 – Quakes vs. LAFC at Levi’s® Stadium, Sept. 13, 2025
2) 50,850 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 29, 2019
3) 50,816 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 25, 2016
4) 50,743 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 30, 2018
5) 50,675 – Quakes vs. Chivas de Guadalajara at Levi’s® Stadium, July 27, 2024
6) 50,617 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, July 1, 2017
7) 50,422 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 27, 2015
8) 50,391 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 30, 2012
9) 50,028 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 29, 2013
10) 50,006 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 28, 2014
TOP 10 LARGEST HOME ATTENDANCES IN 2025 MLS REGULAR SEASON TO DATE
1) 65,520 – Atlanta United FC vs. CF Montreal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Feb. 22
2) 62,358 – Chicago Fire FC vs. Inter Miami CF at Soldier Field, April 13
3) 60,614 – Columbus Crew vs. Inter Miami CF at Huntington Bank Field, April 19
4) 60,005 – Atlanta United FC vs. Charlotte FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, July 19
5) 51,002 – Charlotte FC vs. Atlanta United FC at Bank of America Stadium, March 1
6) 50,978 – Quakes vs. LAFC at Levi’s® Stadium, Sept. 13
7) 43,293 – New England Revolution vs. Inter Miami CF at Gillette Stadium, July 9
8) 42,881 – Quakes vs. LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium, June 28
9) 42,844 – Atlanta United FC vs. Inter Miami CF at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, March 16
10) 42,562 – Atlanta United FC vs. New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, March 8
*The Quakes drew 73,123 fans for a regular-season game vs. D.C. United on July 4, 1999, at Stanford Stadium as the first game of a doubleheader with the U.S. Women’s National Team and Brazil during the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
^The Quakes drew 61,572 fans for a regular-season game vs. the Columbus Crew on June 25, 2009, at Candlestick Park as the first game of a doubleheader with FC Barcelona and Chivas de Guadalajara.
With the result, San Jose still occupies the ninth and final playoff spot in the MLS Western Conference with 35 points (9-13-8). Meanwhile LAFC is fifth with 44 points (12-7-8).
The Quakes are now 7-12-1 (31 GF, 51 GA) against LAFC in MLS regular-season play with a 6-3-0 (19 GF, 19 GA) record at home.
Preston Judd’s 18th-minute goal was his seventh of the season in MLS play and 11th of his career.
Chicho Arango’s 18th-minute assist was his seventh of the season in MLS play and 28th of his career. He increased his tally to five goal contributions (2g/3a) in just four meetings with LAFC.
The Quakes snapped a six-game unbeaten streak in all competitions at Levi’s® Stadium tonight (4-0-2).
San Jose Earthquakes 2 – 4 Los Angeles Football Club
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025 — Levi’s® Stadium; Santa Clara, California
Weather: 69°F Sunny
Attendance: 50,978 (new club standalone record)
*all stats unofficial
Match Officials:
Referee: Rubiel Vazquez
AR1: Gerard-Kader Lebuis
AR2: Kevin Lock
4th Official: Malik Badawi
VAR: David Barrie
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
Scoring Summary:
LAFC (0-1) – Heung Min Son (Artem Smoliakov, Marky Delgado ) 1’
LAFC (0-2) – Denis Bouanga (unassisted) 9’
LAFC (0-3) – Denis Bouanga (Sergi Palencia) 12’
SJ (1-3) – Preston Judd (Cristian “Chicho” Arango ) 18’
LAFC (1-4) – Denis Bouanga (Sergi Palencia) 87’
SJ (2-4) – Sergi Palencia (own goal) 90’
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Chicho Arango (caution) 21’
SJ – Ronaldo Vieira (caution) 57’
LAFC – Ryan Porteous (caution) 67’
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Daniel (GK); Dave Romney, Daniel Munie, Vítor Costa (Jamar Ricketts 81’), Ronaldo Vieira, Rodrigues (Benji Kikanović 60’); Ian Harkes (Noel Buck 81’), Beau Leroux (Ousseni Bouda 60’); Chicho Arango, Cristian Espinoza, Preston Judd (Josef Martínez 66’).
Substitutes not used: Earl Edwards Jr. (GK); Max Floriani, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Bruno Wilson.
POSS.: 63.8%; SHOTS: 18; SOG: 4; CORNERS: 10; OFFSIDES: 0; SAVES: 2; FOULS: 11; xG: 1.9
LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL CLUB: Hugo Lloris (GK); Ryan Porteous, Nkosi Tafari, Artem Smoliakov (Ryan Hollingshead 72’), Sergi Palencia; Eddie Segura, Mark Delgado (Frankie Amaya 86’), Mathieu Choiniere; Denis Bouanga, Timothy Tillman (Andrew Moran 72’), Heung Min Son (David Martinez 79’).
Substitutes not used: Thomas Hasal (GK), Kenneth Nielsen, Ryan Raposo, Adrian Wilbowo, Yaw Yeboah.
POSS.: 36.2%; SHOTS: 9; SOG: 6; CORNERS: 2; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 3; FOULS: 14; xG: 2.9
EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On playing in front of a record-breaking crowd:
“I think the crowd tonight shows what a great area this is for soccer in this country. It’s going to be a great venue for the World Cup, and I thank our soccer community for coming out and supporting us tonight. I wish we could have put on a better show, but I think LAFC did. Give them a lot of credit, but a crowd like this is nothing but positive for our franchise and the league.”
On preparing for the remaining four games to make a playoff push:
“I’m preparing a team to try to win these last four games. If we come out the way we did tonight, we’re not going to win any of them. So hopefully, I’d like to say we can learn something from this, but this has been a bit of a broken record this year, some of the mistakes we’ve made.”
On LAFC scoring three goals in 12 minutes:
“I have to accept the responsibility that we have two of our better players in [Chicho] Arango and [Cristian] Espinoza turning the ball over right in the opening minute of the game that helped create their goal. We have to be better to start a game. They’re veteran players and they have to be a little bit sharper. You got to give the opponent credit, to turn that into a goal. But poor playing on our part, and having a team step on the field and play the way we did in the open minutes of the games, it’s on me. I’m quite surprised at the way we stepped on the field in the opening minutes of the game.”
On coming into the second half of the game:
“There’s a lot of ways to look at it. If you’re the other team in the locker room at halftime, you basically have the game won, and you can play pretty smart and conservative in the second half and don’t open yourselves up. I don’t give us that many pats on the back for being maybe in control of the game in the second half, because the only way they decide winners in this game from all my years of being involved is the scoreboard. We won all the other categories, but I don’t know if we get any prizes for that. LAFC played a smart second half. We needed to get the second goal to really scare them a little bit, and we weren’t able to do that.”
EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER IAN HARKES
On playing in front of a club-record breaking crowd at Levi’s Stadium:
“It’s incredible to see. It’s my first time playing at Levi’s. Talking to the players before, they always said it was a special game. I just think we wanted to reward the fans that came out. We’re sorry that we didn’t today. We were disappointed with ourselves, and they had a great showing. Just want to say thank you to everyone that did come out, and hopefully they stick with us, because we have to push for these next four games. We still believe, and we can’t give up. We can’t let this carry over into the last four games.”
“It was a great atmosphere. We were so happy for all the fans to come out and for us to play in there, obviously that kind of scoreline deflates it right away for the players. We really shot ourselves in the foot from the start.”
On tonight’s formation change against LAFC to go with a back line of four defenders:
“We haven’t played a back four for a long time, but we had a whole week to work on it. I think we felt pretty good, and we wanted to isolate Rodrigues, because he played really well against [Denis] Bouanga the first time when we went away against LAFC. The way they shaped up was a little different, and he didn’t receive the ball too much in the touchline. They were running behind a lot. I think we were a little naïve in the way we approached that and didn’t really change.”
On the team’s mentality tonight as they push for a spot in the playoffs:
“Everyone wanted to push and get back into it. Cristian [Espinoza’s] work rate is relentless. He always finds assists and balls into the box. Give Preston [Judd] a lot of credit. Throughout this whole season, he’s shown up in big moments in terms of stealing points for us and also getting game winning goals and everything like that. We always knew that he was going to be lurking, and we’re happy that he got the goal back, and unfortunately, just couldn’t get that next one at the right time.”
“I think we all have good qualities to play off of each other. I think it was working well, besides the goals. I know that’s stupid to say, but we did control a lot of the game. … I wish the scoreline was different from the start, because I think we controlled a lot. We’re just going to continue to keep working on those relationships, and we can play a lot of different formations based off of our different qualities.”
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Earthquakes Communications Contacts:
Ryan Maquiñana – Director, Communications
rmaquinana@sjearthquakes.com
C: 650.243.8523
Jake Jansing – Coordinator, Communications
jjansing@sjearthquakes.com
C: 408.425.1329
