CARSON, Calif. -- Zlatan Ibrahimovic has heard tales of past LA Galaxy treks to Stanford University, about the boil of a California Clasico showdown in the Bay Area, the bitter disgust with which San Jose Earthquakes supporters hold his team, and the rivalry's ever-present championship atmosphere, regardless of the teams' form or records.
Quakes fans absolutely hate their fiercest rival, and they're going to make things as uncomfortable as possible on Saturday night (10 pm ET | UniMás — Full TV & streaming info), but Ibrahimovic sees things, sort of, in a different light.
“Nah, I think they love me,” the Swedish striker said with a grin after LA's training session Thursday at StubHub Center. “I'll make them love the team, also.”
Good luck with that. There may be no greater animus in MLS than San Jose supporters feel for the Galaxy, and it makes, with 50,000 packed into Stanford Stadium, for one of the most electric atmospheres in American soccer.
“I remember my early years with the Galaxy: Going up to San Jose, that was probably the most vocally brutal crowd of any crowd in the league,” said LA head coach Sigi Schmid, who returned to the club last summer after guiding it from 1999 through 2004. “And sometimes it went to places where they probably shouldn't have gone. This is their monster game of the year, by playing at Stanford, and they're obviously going to get a big crowd for it, and they're going to be sky-high for it.”
Ibrahimovic likes the sound of that.
“I heard it's a crazy crowd,” he said. “I like it. It triggers me. I like it. I mean, that is what we play for. I always say 50 percent of what you're doing is the fans. When they're coming, when they're supporting, when they're cheering, when they're whistling [in derision], when they're loving, when they're hating -- it's part of the game, so that is what we want.”
The support has paid off for the Quakes, who are 4-1-1 against the Galaxy in the annual summer faceoff at Stanford. LA has led in all six games, has scored the first goal in the past five meetings, yet rarely hold on to snare points. San Jose twice has come back from two-goal deficits, won twice in stoppage and pulled out a 1-1 draw two years ago on a 90th-minute strike. Shea Salinas' 93rd-minute goal, his second stoppage-time finish in the series, delivered a 2-1 victory last year.
“It's an emotional game,” Schmid said. “It's their big game, and as a result, when you get into emotional games, you can throw the records out the window. It doesn't matter. And you've got to make sure that if you get into a lead, you've got to old it and you've got to be smart about it and you've got to manage it in the right way, because when it's an emotional game, the other team can jump into it at any point.”
San Jose (2-9-5) returned from a brief World Cup break with a draw last weekend at Real Salt Lake, and this is the first league game in three weeks for the Galaxy, who have home games Wednesday against D.C. United and next weekend against Columbus Crew SC. Sebastian Lletget is recovering from a high ankle sprain, and Schmid might choose to give Ola Kamara a break, coming off a calf strain suffered in two weeks ago in a U.S. Open Cup loss at Portland.
“We've got to be a little careful with the game on Saturday and not push guys into Saturday's game and then knock them out for Wednesday and the following Saturday,” Schmid said. “We're going to have to keep some bodies healthy, and if it means holding back another day or two with some guys and making sure they're ready for Wednesday or the following Saturday, that's important to do.”
