SJ, RSL streaks collide tonight

The stars may align tonight over Spartan Stadium, as the San Jose Earthquakes try to become the first team to finish the regular season unbeaten at home, and Real Salt Lake tries to avoid becoming the second team to finish winless on the road. An RSL victory, as unlikely as that seems, would snap both streaks. And it is unlikely, but it seems that things are falling into place. World Cup qualifying means the Quakes lose 5 players; some of them probably because they have nothing to play for (and they are playing RSL). In addition, Eddie Robinson is suspended and Ronald Cerritos will miss out through injury. The starting forwards will be Roger Levesque and Julian Nash, who have zero career MLS starts between them. The midfield looks alright, but this will be a second-string Earthquakes team: Onstad, Goldthwaite, Gray, Cochrane, Aloisi, O'Rouke, Chung, Mullan, DeRosario, Levesque, Nash RSL will be missing Eddie Pope and a couple others, but this is a good chance for them to finish the season on a high note. Even Chivas won at Columbus last week. Clint Mathis has looked halfway decent in the last few games, and hopefully they'll start Jamie Watson. But their defense could look even worse. I don't expect it to happen, but still, this is a golden opportunity for them.