Soccer Weekend: Wondo Watch comes to Foxborough with Revs reeling, and San Jose surging

Sorry for the tardiness of this week’s edition of Soccer Weekend; there were just a few other things going on in the second half of the week when I traditionally write it. — Sweens

San Jose, Saturday’s opponent for the New England Revolution, is a complexity.

Over most of the last seven years, the Earthquakes have been one of two things: bottom feeders, or just not good enough to make the playoffs. And as the 2019 Major League Soccer season began a little more than two months ago, it looked like everything would remain status quo. After all, the Quakes have a new manager in Matias Almeyda. Surely the lads need the time to gel and learn the new system. And yes, the defending can be disorganized — yet they are not the comedy of errors we here in New England see week after week.

But let me tell you, something crazy has happened in Silicon Valley: the Quakes are getting results. After an 0-4 start, San Jose has captured points in five of their last six, and haven’t tasted defeat since a 2-1 loss to Houston on April 13. They enter Saturday in eighth place in the Western Conference (3-5-2, 11 points), and a win over the Revolution would see San Jose into the playoff spots, given last night’s result for seventh-place Vancouver Whitecaps.

And they can win tonight, given New England’s recent managerial switch, only one training session under interim coach Mike Lapper, and with the way the Revs’ defending has been recently — read: non-existent — the Quakes’ attackers, especially Shea Salinas and Danny Hoesen, have to have eyes as wide as the moon.

The real question, though: does Almeyda let old stalwart Chris Wondolowski have a go at the Revs’ back line?

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The 36-year-old Wondolowski enters Saturday night sitting at 144 goals scored in league play, one goal behind Landon Donovan at 145. His last goal came on Oct. 6 of last season.

Scoring twice against the Revolution would move Wondo to top of MLS’ scoring annals — and it can happen tonight.

One thing that we noticed in our film review of San Jose: the Quakes like to build through the left-hand side. They did that quite a bit against FC Cincinnati last weekend; even before that, they’ve looked to target Shea Salinas at left wing, who is turning into a rather dependable scoring threat for San Jose: he has registered four goals and one assist in eight matches. Salinas is fast out on the left wing, can score with either foot, and will do a Cristian Penilla cut-in on occasion to get the ball on his right.

But he can also score with the left, like he did against Seattle a few weeks ago, driving in and beating Steffen Frei with ease.

Danny Hoesen is also a threat, is dangerous on the ball, and has a first touch that can murder a defense if they don’t remain switched on.

And keep your eye on Magnus Eriksson in the middle; he can have a go from distance to help draw the defending out. He’s continuing to build confidence in the No. 10 role.

San Jose will be without Cristian Espinoza tonight as he serves a one-game red card suspension.

It also should be known that the Revolution are 8-10-3 against San Jose in Foxborough: their last loss against the Quakes at Gillette came in 2011, but New England has not failed to register a result against them for the last six matches.

Also in the league this weekend...

On Friday night, Vancouver registered a 1-0 win over the vagabond Portland Timbers.

This afternoon, Cincinnati hosts Montreal, FC Dallas hosts the Red Bulls (Univision, 2 p.m.), Toronto hosts Philadelphia, and LA Galaxy hosts New York City FC (ESPN, 4 p.m.).

Tonight, Columbus hosts LAFC, Chicago hosts Minnesota United, Colorado hosts Real Salt Lake, and Seattle hosts Houston.

Two matches in the cards for Mother’s Day as Atlanta United hosts Orlando City (FOX, 2:30 p.m.), and DC United hosts Sporting Kansas City (FS1, 7:30 p.m.). Should the Five Stripes win, they can conceivably move up as high as fourth in the league, depending on other results.

In the USL Championship, Hartford Athletic played last night and lost, 2-1, to Memphis 901 FC. Birmingham Legion — which has Revs’ Homegrown midfielder Zachary Herivaux on the roster, on loan — will host Louisville City FC at 8 p.m. tonight.

A little closer to home, Boston City FC is on the road to the New York Cosmos in NPSL play; the Lions will look for their first win over the season for Chelsea, native Michael Bustamente as the Cosmos played Black Rock FC of the Berkshires during the midweek as part of the 2019 US Open Cup. And with the Cosmos moving on to play Hartford Athletic at the University of Hartford in Wednesday’s Open Cup Second Round, we’re wondering how New York will line up.

In addition, Greater Lowell will have its home opener this evening as the Rough Diamonds host Kingston Stockade at UMass-Lowell, with kickoff slated for 5 p.m. Unbeaten Hartford City FC hosts the Brooklyn Italians, while the Rhode Island Reds travel to Traver’s Island for its season opener against New York Athletic Club tomorrow afternoon.

In the Premier League, it’s the final day of the regular season. Who will be crowned champions of England? One point separates first-place Manchester City (95 points) and second-place Liverpool (94). City is at Brighton Hove and Albion (NBC Sports Network), and a win will safely keep the Blues in first. A loss or a draw, though, will open the door for the Merseysiders, which hosts Wolverhampton.

The race for third is also on: Chelsea sits third (71 points) to Tottenham Hotspur’s 70. Chelsea is at Leicester City (CNBC) while Spurs host Everton. The West Londoners will come to Foxborough on Wednesday.

Arsenal, which sits three points adrift of Spurs, would need a Spurs loss and a win over Burnley, plus a nine-goal swing, to make St. Totteringham’s Day — which occurs when Tottenham cannot finish higher than Arsenal — happen for the first time since 2015-16.

All matches start at 10 a.m. Sunday.