Bruce Arena insisted every point the San Jose Earthquakes pick up from now until the end of the season would be "critical" in their hopes of reaching the playoffs.
The Earthquakes extended their unbeaten run in the MLS at the weekend with a 1-1 draw away to the Colorado Rapids, leaving them fourth in the Western Conference.
San Jose make the trip to America First Field in midweek to take on fellow postseason hopefuls Real Salt Lake, who are four points adrift of the LA Galaxy in the playoffs.
Arena's side have six matches of their regular season remaining, with clashes against the likes of Nashville SC, FC Dallas and Minnesota United among their standout fixtures.
The San Jose boss was thrilled to come away from Dick's Sporting Goods Park with a point against the Rapids, and he is hoping his team can build on that against RSL.
"If you are referring to our game against Colorado and coming back from a deficit, it was a great result for our team," Arena said after the draw with Colorado.
"At this point of the season, every point we get is going to be critical for what we want to achieve. This was a big point for us.
"Especially against a team that has the second-best home record in the league. So to come here and get a point, it was a fantastic effort by everybody in our team."
RSL, meanwhile, are enduring a slump at just the wrong time. They have won just one of their last 13 matches since MLS play resumed after this summer's World Cup.
They were beaten 2-1 by the Philadelphia Union in their last league outing, with goals in either half from Bruno Damiani and Milan Iloski ensuring the win for the hosts.
Pablo Mastroeni made two changes at half-time during that outing, with Juan Manuel Sanabria and Luc De Fougerolles coming on and making an impact off the bench.
Fougerolles got the assist for Saba Lobjanidze's 96th-minute consolation at Subaru Park, and Mastroeni said the pair could be in line to start against San Jose in midweek.
"Obviously the changes of JuanMa and Luc completely changed the game, there was nothing changed tactically," Mastroeni said.
"It was just two international players playing at a really, really high level and a lot of confidence. With them you saw the group change its mindset with the introduction them.
"So I thought it was a fantastic second half and I thought the guys played extremely well and created a lot of really good opportunities."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
RSL – Saba Lobjanidze
Lobjanidze scored RSL's only goal in their loss to Philadelphia, his sixth goal contribution with the club and his fifth off the bench.
Indeed, it is the most of any player as a substitute since Lobjanidze made his RSL debut after the World Cup break in July.
SJ Earthquakes – Dave Romney
Romney was on target for San Jose against Colorado last time, finding the back of the net from a set-piece just before the hour mark.
It was Romney's 10th career regular-season MLS goal and the ninth that came from a set piece (five corners, four free kicks).
MATCH PREDICTION: RSL WIN
RSL won their last meeting with San Jose, a 2-1 victory in July 2025. They have not won consecutive matches against the Earthquakes since October 2014 and April 2015.
This week's hosts have, however, lost eight of their last 10 regular-season matches (W1 D1). RSL's only win in that time, and their only victory since returning from the World Cup break, was a 3-0 victory over New England on September 26 in their last home match.
San Jose, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run to seven matches (W3 D4) last time out. Seven of the Earthquakes' eight losses in 2026 came in nine matches between May 13 and August 29 after losing one of 12 before (W9 D2) and none of seven since.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
RSL – 49.5%
Draw – 22.8%
SJ Earthquakes – 27.7%
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