SAN JOSE — During warmups before the California Clásico between the Galaxy and Earthquakes on Saturday, fans at the south side of Stanford Stadium unveiled a tifo of a pair of clowns, a jab aimed at the visitors.
Twelve minutes into the match, the Galaxy had a 1-0 lead and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez was dancing after scoring, putting both his hands up to his ears to emulate a clown. It was the first of two goals for Hernandez, who put together a masterpiece MLS performance in front of 44,200 fans days after being left off Mexico’s World Cup roster.
That set the stage for a critical 3-2 win for the Galaxy to solidify their playoff positioning with two games remaining. The Galaxy (13-12-7, 46 points) leapfrogged Minnesota and pulled even with Portland into fifth place in the Western Conference, as they currently own the tiebreaker.
“The best way to respond to a tifo like that is scoring two goals and celebrating like a clown,” Hernandez said.
The Galaxy entered the game holding the seventh and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The match against San Jose (7-15-10, 31 points) was their game in hand, with other teams playing in the international window this week.
And they took full advantage, with two first half goals from Hernandez and Gastón Brugman. Both of them have scored three goals in the last two games.
“It’s an important three points,” coach Greg Vanney said. “No two ways about it. The momentum is important. The result is important. Everything about it was really big tonight.”
For his first goal, Hernandez took a cross from Julián Araujo, deftly stopped it with his left foot to shake the Quakes’ defender Rodrigues and then buried it into the left corner of the goal.
There were fireworks postgame, but Brugman started them early in the 42nd minute, taking a pass from the edge of the box and ripping a screaming drive off the crossbar and past goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski before he could even react.
Hernandez’s second goal came in the 69th minute, delivering a right-footed shot on a feed from Efraín Álvarez while on the run in the box.
He followed that up with another dance. When Hernandez left the match for Nick DePuy in the 84th minute, he was roundly booed as the mock-clapped to the fans.
Hernandez called his dances an “amazing response” and thanked the fans for the tifo.
“Sometimes people think that kind of stuff is going to put our confidence or ourselves down,” Hernandez said. “It did completely the opposite. They motivate us. They motivate me, at least.”
Hernandez now has 17 goals on the season and four against San Jose since coming to MLS in 2020.
“You want your striker to be hot at this time of year, that’s for sure,” Vanney said. “He’s finding good spots. We’re finding him with the ball. He’s putting it in the back of the net. That breeds a lot of confidence for him and for the group.”
The Galaxy outshot the Earthquakes 5-1 in the first half, but San Jose had several scoring chances in the second half to outshoot the Galaxy 13-11 for the match.
Los Angeles fended off a late San Jose comeback. Cristian Espinoza got the Earthquakes on the board with a goal on a penalty kick in the 74th minute. Nathan added the Earthquakes’ second goal in stoppage time, but the referee blew the whistle immediately afterward.
The game was rescheduled from June 24 due to a power outage at Stanford Stadium from a nearby fire. The Galaxy end the season with matches against Real Salt Lake and Houston.
The Galaxy won consecutive MLS matches for the first time since April, entering Saturday breaking a four-game winless streak with a 4-1 win over Colorado last week. They also handed San Jose just its fourth home loss of the season.
The Earthquakes may be last in the West, but they’ve played the Galaxy tough, winning seven of the last 10 matches entering Saturday.
The Galaxy were without midfielder Douglas Costa, who received a red card against Colorado. Defenders Martin Cáceres, Kelvin Leerdam and Eriq Zavaleta were out due to international duty.
The team has a good mindset and is confident heading into the season’s final two games, according to Vanney. The Galaxy, suddenly just one point behind Nashville for home field advantage in the first round, have a chance to be the team that nobody wants to see in the playoffs.
“The confidence has been building,” Vanney said. “Now the execution has been better. I still think there’s another level for us to try and get to as we push forward in these next couple of games.”