America’s massive, thrilling 2026 World Cup is over, returning the stateside soccer stage to Major League Soccer.
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The San Jose Earthquakes were key players in that league’s story before it took a lengthy intermission while the international game attracted the world’s attention.
The Quakes, who have been tied with Vancouver atop the Western Conference standings for two months since beating Portland on May 23, return to action this week with a pair of home games. First, Orlando City will visit PayPal Park on Wednesday night, then Saturday will see the Earthquakes host rival LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium in the California Clasico.
While San Jose has not resumed play just yet, MLS did unpause its season over the weekend as Nashville beat Atlanta to extend its lead in the overall standings to five points clear of the Quakes and Whitecaps atop the West. Vancouver has a game in hand on both San Jose and Nashville.
It has been a turnaround season at PayPal Park, as the Quakes have conceded just 15 goals, third-fewest in the league, one year after being third-worst with 63 goals allowed in 2025. San Jose is also third in scoring at the offensive end, scoring 34 goals, led by Preston Judd with 11.
“The way the season started, we weren’t conceding as many goals, and as the break was coming, we started to slip up there a little,” center back Daniel Munie told reporters Monday. “We just got to get back to limiting other teams’ chances a little bit more going into the rest of the season.”
The season is less than half finished thanks to the lengthy World Cup hiatus. Bruce Arena’s club must prove over the next three-plus months that the first three were no fluke.
The halfway mark will come after this week’s action, and Munie will represent the Earthquakes in his first career All-Star Game when the top MLS players face those from Mexico’s Liga MX on July 29 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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“The team is excited to play people other than our own practice,” Munie said. “I think the group’s hungry and ready to get back after it, and I know the fans are probably excited too, after the World Cup and all the festivities with that.”
Wednesday will feature a new man minding the net after San Jose traded Daniel, its starter for the last three-plus seasons, to FC Dallas earlier this month and signed Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn. The Earthquakes also signed 21-year-old Australian striker Luka Jovanović, last year’s co-scoring leader in the A-League, from Adelaide United FC.
The Quakes plan to honor team and World Cup alumni Victor Bernardez (Honduras 2010, 2014), John Doyle (United States, 1990) and Chris Wondolowski (United States, 2014) before Wednesday’s match.
Gunn is the only current Earthquakes player who appeared in the World Cup, starting all three of Scotland’s games and keeping one clean sheet (against Haiti) as the Scots went out in the group stage after losses to Morocco (1-0) and Brazil (3-0).
Orlando was another team to add reinforcements during the break, as French midfielder Antoine Griezmann arrived from Atletico Madrid. Another big name joining MLS is Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, who signed with the Chicago Fire from Barcelona. Japanese striker Kyōgo Furuhashi signed Tuesday with the Galaxy from Birmingham City, as well, though his visa is pending, so his status for Saturday is unclear.
Saturday at Stanford will be the resumption of one of Major League Soccer’s oldest rivalries. The Quakes are 5-3-4 in 12 games against the Galaxy on The Farm, including a 1-1 draw last year.
The Galaxy currently sit in ninth place in the West with 20 points, while Orlando has just 14 points and a minus-21 goal differential.
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