San Francisco’s professional soccer team will be traveling down Highway 101 today to take on San Jose’s professional soccer team in a US Open Cup game at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. It is the first competitive match between the Deltas and the Quakes.
“I think the upcoming game between our team and the Quakes is significant because it’s exciting for Bay Area fans to have an opportunity to see soccer played at the highest level between two local teams,” said SF Deltas head coach Marc Dos Santos. “The fans see San Francisco against San Jose as a rivalry, and we understand that.”
The teams met for a pre-season friendly in San Jose in February which the Deltas won 1-0. The game also had a testy exchange which included the Quakes star forward Chris Wondolowski grabbing the Deltas Michael Stephens by the neck.
The Deltas made it to the Fourth Round of the US Open Cup, a cup competition open to any pro or amateur soccer team in the United States, by defeating the amateur side Burlingame Dragons and the USL’s Phoenix Rising FC.
“There’s a lot of pride that comes from clubs playing in the U.S. Open Cup,” Deltas Forward Tommy Heinemann explained. He has led the team’s run in the tournament with a goal in both matches. “As an American, it’s fun to have an interleague competition where anything can happen. To play against a team that has a lot of tradition and history will be special for our club.”
The only other time the Earthquakes have played a San Francisco soccer team in the US Open Cup was in 1997 when they took on the former San Francisco Seals.
In social media, the game has been given the unofficial title of the “101 Derby” and the Deltas have started a vote asking whether fans support red (the colors of the San Francisco Deltas) or blue (the colors of the San Jose Quakes).
San Francisco Deltas fans have also chartered a bus to take fans from San Francisco down to San Jose for the game.
“If we wanted to make moves in this area and start to develop a bigger fan base and following, games like this can show that you can compete against an MLS team,” said Deltas midfielder Michael Stephens.
Game time is 7:15 pm at Avaya Stadium. Tickets are still available on the Quakes website.
