San Jose Earthquakes vs Toronto FC Predictions

• San Jose Earthquakes missed out on playoff football last season, finishing in 15th place overall.
• Toronto made it to the MLS Cup final before being defeated by Seattle Sounders. They finished 9th in the league.
• San Jose scored 52 times last season but conceded 55 times, an average of 1.61 times per match.
• Toronto scored 57 times averaging 1.67 goals per game but conceded 52 times, the second highest total in the top half.

San Jose begin the new season with renewed hope

Last year did not end well for San Jose Earthquakes as they lost the final six games of their season to miss out on the playoffs by four points. This poor run an average of over 2 goals a game as the club plummeted in the final few weeks of the campaign. This disappointing collapse didn’t cause the side to lose faith in manager, Matias Almeyda though and the Argentine is still at the helm for the new season.

There is a sense of anticipation around the side who, at times last season, showed that they should be considered a playoff side and they’ll be keen to make that jump this season. They’ve haven’t made many changes to their squad though with Almeyda keeping faith with the majority of the side that were nearly men last season.

The Quakes scored at a rate of 1.52 goals per game last season with 52 goals to their name but their poor end to the term meant they ended up with a negative goal difference. The conceded 11 times in their final five games, a figure that really highlights the struggle of the side in the final third of the 2019 season. They’ll be keen to rediscover their early season form though and move back into the Western Conference elite.

Toronto have no distractions as they look for MLS Cup glory

Toronto qualified for the MLS Cup last season with relative ease in the end but their form at the beginning of the season stopped them from really making an impact at the top of the league. Their participation in the CONCACAF Champions League proved to be too big of a distraction early on in the campaign and despite improving as time went on, they only managed to finish 9th in the overall table.

Despite this they managed to make it to the MLS Cup final before losing to Seattle Sounders and they’ll be hoping to go one better this year without the Champions League to distract the side. The biggest addition to the squad comes in the form of Pablo Piatti, who arrives from Espanyol with the task of improving the attacking output of the side. It might be a few weeks before the TFC fans see their new man take to the pitch after he picked up a small injury in pre season.

Last season saw Toronto scored 57 times, a rate of 1.67 times per match but the 52 goals they conceded was more than anyone else in the top half of the table, with the exception of LA Galaxy. Their defence will need to be better this season but Toronto do look to have an abundance of talent in their frontline with Piatti joining Altidore and Pozuelo in a potent looking strikeforce.

The new season sees both sides hoping to make an impact

These two teams both disappointed last season but will be hoping to improve this season and contend for silverware in their respective conferences. San Jose endured an awful end to 2019 whilst Toronto were again second best in the MLS Cup final, something both sides will be looking to atone for this season. Home advantage means a little more in MLS with such huge distances to travel but we think Toronto have the better side levelling the playing field a little more.

We’re backing Toronto to come away with a result but San Jose have enough quality to put an element of doubt into our minds and the draw no bet market is our safety net in this regard. We’re backing Toronto to win the game on the draw no bet market, meaning a draw returns our stake to us with no loss.

The scoreline is a little more tricky to predict with no one quite knowing how much fitness some of the Toronto players have heading into the new season. We think they have enough to sneak this game however with San Jose having a hangover from the poor end to 2019. We’re backing Toronto to pick up a slender, but important, 1-0 win in their opening game.